9th December, 2010
A Federal High court has adjourned till January next year the N100 million copyright infringement suit instituted against MTN Communications by a Nigerian artiste, Femi Mayomi a.k.a. Fada U-Turn.
In a claim filed before the court by a human rights lawyer, Festus Keyamo, the musician averred that he is the copyright owner of the musical work entitled Yetunde, which he produced and marketed for over nine years.
However, he said he discovered that his musical work was being used as caller/ring tone by MTN Communications.
He further discovered that for an individual to subscribe to the song as caller/ring tone the perosn would pay N100 for it.
The song was used by the defendant as a way of exploiting N100 from each subscriber that uses it.
Fada U-Turn averred further that he had no contract with MTN nor did he permit the company to use any of his songs or musical works as its caller or ring tone.
When that was discovered, he said, he instructed his lawyer to write a letter to the defendant, complaining about the alleged infringement and the consequential demand for damages.
Consequently, he urged the court to restrain MTN from using his musical work as caller/ring tone. In addition, the communication company should pay him N100 million as well as give account of the proceeds realised from using his song as caller/ring tone.
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