How Court Ordered MTN To Pay Singer N20 Million

By Tolulope Oke

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has ordered MTN Nigeria to pay an Abuja-based singer, Liberty Williams, a sum of N20 million over copyright violation.

Williams filed a lawsuit in 2017 with the filing number FHC/ABJ/CS/2017 against MTN, its CEO Ferdi Moolman, Nowhere to Run Entertainment Ltd., and Emmanuel Abanah.

Williams, better known by his stage name “Pupayannis,” petitioned the court to grant him N200 million in general damages and N100 million in aggravated and punitive damages through his attorneys at Remedium Law Partners (previously Felix Igelige and Associate Law Partners).

The complainant had accused MTN of offering for sale as a ringtone a song he had written in July 2013.

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He had wanted the court to rule that MTN had violated his copyright by selling the song without getting his permission.

The lawsuit claimed that MTN, in association with No Where to Run Entertainment Company, had unlawfully provided its millions of subscribers his song “Love is everything” as a ringtone and caller tune.

He claimed that three months prior to signing a contract with No Where to Run Entertainment Ltd., in July 2013, he wrote, composed, and funded the song’s production.

Williams requested that the court grant him N100 million in aggravated and punitive damages and N200 million in ordinary damages.

In her ruling on Thursday, Justice Mary Ojukwu, the presiding judge, demanded that the telecommunications corporation pay the singer N20,000,000 and provide an account of profit for the song’s unauthorized usage during the previous three years.