May 16, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Copyright Commission has commenced investigation into the on-going copyright infringement war between singer Veno Marioghae-Mbanefo and Airtel Network Limited.
The commission decided to investigate the matter after Airtel denied the singer’s claim that it infringed her copyright.
The telecommunication company said it did not receive any letter from Veno’s lawyers. It also emphatically denied promoting its TV App with her musical work, while claiming that the singer failed to prove that Airtel used the musical work on its TV App.
Accusing Veno of damaging its reputation through some statements published online, Airtel threatened to drag her to court, if she fails to retract the statements and apologise within seven days from the receipt of the letter that it sent to her.
Meanwhile, Marioghae-Mbanefo denied ever defaming the telco’s reputation as alleged. She also insisted that Airtel infringed her musical copyright through their unsolicited telemarketing. Her lawyers, Felix Igelige and Associates, also claimed that a letter dated April 14, 2022 was dispatched through NIPOST Speed Post to Airtel’s Head Office and her press statement was issued on April 20, 2022 as opposed to the telco’s claim that it didn’t receive any letter from her.
THEWILL investigation shows that Airtel Network Limited made a jingle in which Veno’s hit song, Nigeria go survive, was played for about eight seconds and accompanied with the following words: “Dear customer, free download is here, you can now call all network to Nigeria with 12 kobo per seconds from the very first minute. Yes, 12kobo per seconds to all networks in Nigeria, just dial *152# Airtel cares.”
THE WILL spoke with, the Zonal Head of the Nigeria Copyright Commission, Lagos State, Mathew Ojo, he corroborated our findings that the commission has commenced its investigation.
“The investigation is still ongoing, we have not established anything yet until we conclude our investigation. The other party (Airtel) has also visited the office and requested for some time to come back with their evidence to show that the offence was not committed by them,” he said.
Recall that Veno Marioghae-Mbanefo released the hit song, Nigeria go survive in the 1980s, amid an economic crisis in the country, to encourage citizens that there was still hope for the country. The singer later claimed that her song was used by Airtel for its telemarketing and also to promote a reality singing show, The Voice Nigeria. She slammed a copyright infringement suit against the company and demanded the sum of N50 million as compensation for using her musical work unlawfully.
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