A popular legendary song writer and artiste, Onyeka Onwenu, has been awarded a five hundred thousand naira (N500,000) after she dragged IROKING to court for the continuous infringement of her intellectual property by the sale and distribution of the her songs without consent.
In a ruling handed down by Hon. Justice C.J. Aneke of the Federal High Court Lagos on Thursday, the 16th day of January 2020, regarding a case, Suit No:FHC/L/CS/1486/2017, the court held that the intellectual property right of Onwenu was indeed breached by the company between the period of 28th day of February 2015 (after the Digital Rights Acquisition Agreement Expired) and March 2016 when the company claimed it pulled down the works from the its specific digital platform (iTunes).
According to the elated songstress, she claimed it was a landmark victory for the industry as a whole.
“This judgment is not just victory for me but for all songwriters, producers, and all intellectual property owners in general,” she said.
The veteran singer also knocked the judiciary for its ignorance where issues concerning intellectual property theft are concerned, claimed the amount awarded was not enough to serve as deterrent for others.
“Although the amount of damages awarded to the me was only 500k (sic), an indication that Nigerian judges still lack adequate understanding of intellectual property rights, this is a victory for the music industry, which should prompt every copyright owner to look into who is selling your music without your permission.
“They would easily find that gross violations abound. Change is coming. There must be a better regulation of this “all comers” market,” she concluded.
Thank you.
IROKING, a subsidiary of iROKO Partners founded in 2010 in England by Jason Njoku and Bastian Gotter, is a free Nigerian music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of African labels and artists. Its website platform was launched in December 2011 by iROKO Partners.[8] Music can be browsed by direct searches, artist, album and playlists.The system is currently accessible using Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.
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