Civil Enforcement of Copyright Finally a Reality in Nigeria

Civil Enforcement of Copyright Finally a Reality in Nigeria

By Afro Ng'ombe   Sunday, July 19, 2009   1 comment:

The Nigerian Copyright Act has long provided for civil enforcement against copyright infringement.  However, with a slow-moving justice system, few copyright trained attorneys and a government often noted for its levels of corruption, civil enforcement seemed like a dream more than a reality.  That changed this month.

Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) successfully sued telecommunications provider Zain for copyright infringement, to the tune of 100 million Naira.  (That’s about US$674,000 or £411,000.)  Infringed works were used in advertisements and sold as ringtones.  Nigeria’s Vanguard outlines the history of the case, from refusals to pay for licenses, through settlement attempts and to the court case.

One important aspect of this case is that the infringed songs included some owned by foreign rightholders.  MCSN is responsible for collecting for these songs through its agreements with other collecting societies, such as PRS in the UK and ASCAP in the US.  The fact that MCSN was able to obtain a successful judgment for infringement of foreign-owned songs is good news for international collecting societies, as well as good news for Nigeria.

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Zap in trouble!

Zap in trouble!

By Asiimwe Paul   Monday, March 16, 2009   No comments:

Zain, the Kuwaiti based telecoms giant may be sued over its use of the Zap trademark in Kenya. Zap is the flagship brand that is chasing Safaricom's 'MPESA' in East Africa's Mobile money business.

Zain is challenged by Ngoko Enterprises, a small company trading in cleaning agents and has given the registrar of trademarks 14 days within which to respond to its notice, after which it intends to take legal action.

This development is positive in as far as small firms are willing to assert themselves and protect their brand rights. It would be interesting to see what Zain would do if its use of the name Zap was deemed unlawful, either by the registrar of Trademarks or the High Court. The Zap challenge also underscores the importance of companies carrying out due diligence on trademarks before launching important products as such an oversight could lead be mortally fatal to the product. The other issue that arises is, if Zain is disrespectful of other companies' brands, why should the public respect its brand?!

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Zain applies for 3rd National telecom operator licence in Rwanda

Zain applies for 3rd National telecom operator licence in Rwanda

By Asiimwe Paul   Tuesday, October 07, 2008   No comments:

Zain (formerly Celtel) has filed its application to become Rwanda's third licensee, the other existing players being Rwandatel and MTN Rwanda.

Rwanda is looking at enhancing the competitiveness of its telecoms sector as the initial 5 year duopoly period comes to an end for Rwandatel and MTN Rwanda. This also comes against the backdrop of poor service and regular dropped calls on the MTN Rwanda network which led the Rwanda telecoms regulator to fine MTN an unprecedented 70 million Rwandese Francs.

Zain is competing for the third national license against Orascom Telecom's subsidiary, Telecel Globe Ltd of Egypt, Millicom from Luxemburg and Larrycom from Sudan.One of Zain's strongest selling points as a telecom brand is its world class 'one network' which enables subscribers on the Zain network in Africa and Asia to make cross border calls at local rates. This is one innovation European telcos would not welcome because of revenue generated from their expensive roaming charges.

Apart from its one network, Zain hopes to introduce world class communications services on the wimax platform as well as 3G and 3.5G telephony.

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Orange makes entry into East African markets

Orange makes entry into East African markets

By Asiimwe Paul   Friday, September 26, 2008   No comments:

It has now been confirmed by the East African newspaper that France Telecom one of the world's leading players in the telecoms sector will use Kenya as the launchpad for its operations in East Africa.

France Telecom through Orange purchased a majority stake of 51% in Telkom Kenya which makes it one of the three largest telcos in Kenya, the others being market leader Safaricom and newly christened Zain (formerly Celtel). Orange launched its mobile service last week, having hitherto focused mainly on fixed telephony under the Telkom Kenya brand.

Whereas a new player of the France telecom kind will definately help deflate prices for mobile services, it is unclear to what extent the provision of data services will be positively impacted in Kenya and the region at large. Hopefully, the entry of Orange in Kenya will lead to downward pressure on the price of telecom services in the region generally, as well as better service delivery and innovation.

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