By Watchdog reporter
Last year, singer Maurice Kirya sued MTN Uganda for copyright infringement though the attempts proved fruitless.
This week, the celebrated singer once again dragged the telecommunication company to Commercial court at Buganda road on the same issue.
According to the Kirya, MTN was offering some of his songs to its subscribers as a call back tune at a fee without his consent. This attracted several customers to its networks which earned the telecom company significantly but paid him nothing. Maurice Kirya confirmed that MTN was using his songs when he subscribed for the service and requested for one of his songs which was given to him after deducting his airtime as payment for the caller tune.
In their defence, MTN argued that Kirya doesn’t have copyright ownership of his own songs.
However Justice David K. Wangutusi cut them off, asserting that he (Kirya) is the owner by virtue of authorship.
He advised MTN to come to the table and negotiate a settlement with singer Kirya to avoid a prolonged court battle.
The singer said MTN’s actions amounted to unjust enrichment and caused him loss of income to a tune of Shs 500m, which he sought court to compel the company to pay.
Do you have a story in your community or an opinion to share with us: Email us at editorial@watchdoguganda.com
