The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered MTN Nigeria to pay a musician, Liberty Williams the sum of N20 million (Twenty Million Naira) for copyright violation.
According to SaharaReporters, he had accused the telecommunications giant of selling a song he composed in July 2013 as a caller tune.
Williams, whose stage name is “Pupayannis” instituted the suit in 2017 against MTN, its Chief Executive Officer, Ferdi Moolman; Nowhere to Run Entertainment Ltd and its CEO, Emmanuel Abanah.
The plaintiff, through his legal representatives, Remedium Law Partners, asked the court to award N200 million as general damages and N100 million as aggravated and punitive damages in his favour.
However, the presiding judge, Justice Mary Ojukwu asked MTN to pay the musician N20 million (N20,000,000) and also render an account of profit for the illegal use of the song for three years.
His lawyer had argued that MTN’s sale of the song without his consent constituted an infringement on his copyright.
Williams accused MTN of collaborating with No Where to Run Entertainment to offer his song “Love is everything” as a ring tone and caller tune to its millions of subscribers without seeking his permission.
In a statement of claim, the plaintiff said he wrote, composed and financed the production of the song in July 2013, three months before he entered into an agreement with No Where to Run Entertainment Ltd.
He insisted that there was no time, he surrendered the masters and the right of the song to the No Where To Run company.
Musician wins MTN in court, to receive N20m compensation for using his song as caller tune
