A controversy is brewing between the House of Oduduwa and Bolanle Austen-Peters Productions over the intellectual right to the Moremi the Musical.
Recall that Bolanle Austen-Peters, despite objections from the House of Oduduwa, announced the successful screen of the controversial stage play with almost about 40,000 views.
According to a statement signed by the producer of Moremi the Musical, Joseph Umoibom, while reiterating that it ownership belongs to BAP, stated that the stage play was its own contribution in ameliorating the effect of coronavirus lockdown.
“It was like our own CSR to Nigerians and, more importantly, a gift to our teeming fans all over the world and to the cast and crew of the play whose sweat and labour of love have once again been appreciated by the wonderful comments while the streaming was on.
“We have the right on the intellectual property ownership of the play, as the signed MoU is a legal document that clearly stipulates the rights and entitlements of the collaborating parties on the project,” he said.
But the House of Oduduwa thought otherwise.
The House of Oduduwa insisted that Bolanle Austen-Peters didn’t have the right to stream the stage online as IP right wasn’t part of the signed agreement.
“Mrs Bolanle Austen- Peters did not tell the world the full story of her infringement of Intellectual Property Rights in ‘Moremi The Musical’ written, produced and performed under an agreement between Bolanle Austen Peters Productions (BAP) and House of Oduduwa Foundation (HoOF).
“In September 2018, the two parties entered into an agreement where BAP was commissioned to adapt and deliver the Moremi script for stage performance of Moremi The Musical in Nigeria and abroad,” HoOF claimed.
It was also alleged that BAP was fully paid for delivering the stage performances including payment for the use of its TerraKulture venue.
“In due recourse to Mrs. Austen-Peters, the play was billed to continue in December 2019. However, Mrs. Bolanle Austen-Peters refused to participate because she was busy with other plans. We pleaded with her to no avail. We had paid for the venue. She told us to cancel. We had no other choice than to commission another production company with their own choreography, music and direction to deliver the stage performance at InterContinental, at an additional huge cost to HoOF.
“The question we asked ourselves was; should we be stuck with Mrs. Austen-Peters’ personal programmes or preferences when we knew we own the intellectual property rights and we could commission new production, especially after her refusal?”
That was the disagreement HoOF had with BAP or so it thought it was the only disagreement.
“Little did we know she could go as far as embarking on streaming the play on YouTube when she knew that was far outside her domain because she did not own the IP rights.”
The HoOF lamented that it was unfortunate for a professional to act in such a way and unapologetically breach an agreement.
“It is unfortunate that those who ought to know better can chose to embark on actions in breach of the law.
“For the avoidance of doubt, BAP does not own the intellectual property rights in Moremi The Musical and clearly she could not have owned the rights in the original script or the trademark – “Queen Moremi Ajansoro” belonging to the HoOF, neither does she have the right to exploit the work in the digital media as she has flagrantly done in what she has called her ‘version of the play’.
“No ethical entity in the creative or any industry at all would tread that path in infringement of Intellectual Property Rights if they are not under the impression that they are above the law.
“It is now her lot to rush to the public arena to justify her unlawful and illegal act.”
The HoOF threatened not to let such attitude fly by without due action.
“We promise every well-meaning lover of arts that we will not allow this unlawful act to stand, not to the utter disdain on the office of Ooni & the House of Oduduwa Foundation,” the statement read.
How this friction will pan out, the coming days is pregnant.
The House of Oduduwa Foundation in an ongoing commitment to relentless service to humanity, is a vocal advocate for the less privileged, driven by His Imperial Majesty, Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja II.
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