CTCOM Liberia ltd the company that manages Liberian Afropop artists PCK & L Frankie has filed a $3.150,000.00 US lawsuit against the Management of telecommunication Company Lonestar cell MTN for an unauthorized use of their intellectual property in Monrovia.
CTCom Liberia alleged that the telecommunication company used their artists PCK & L Frankie hit song “I Here” as caller ring back tunes without their permission.
Addressing a press conference in paynesville on Thursday morning December 13,2018, Christopher Hayes Onanuga CEO of CTcom Liberia described the action of Lonestar Cell MTN as a violation of the Intellectual property act 2016 of Liberia, specifically section 9.1, section 9.26 (b) and section 9.29. Which speak against the illegal and unauthorized use of intellectual property.
According to Onanuga, Lonestar Cell MTN invited his company to a meeting to settle the matter but to their surprise at the meeting, Lone star Cell MTN offered to pay $ 1000.00 US for the used of their song for the period of 18 months, something he said promoted them to walk out of the meeting.
For his part, the manager of the Duo PCK & L Frankie, Sam Payedo popularly known in showbiz as DJ Weezy said he personally delivered the song “I Here” to the management of Lonestar Cell MTN and was waiting for a deal to be signed but to his surprise a week later Lonestar Cell uploaded the song to their platform to be used as ring back tunes without due process. He said as if this wasn’t enough, the telecommunication company further went ahead and used their artists portraits/pictures for promotional activities without the approval of the artists management. This further prompted their lawsuit against the telecommunication company.
Meanwhile several attempts to get the management of Lonestar Cell MTN to speak on the matter was no avail as management couldn’t not speak on the issue. The case is current before the Civil law court of Monrovia.
Comments
