Court docket dismisses N1bn go well with towards MTN, awards N3m prices

A Federal Excessive Court docket in Lagos has dismissed a N1bn lawsuit filed towards MTN Nigeria Communications Plc by Partitions and Gates Ltd and its Managing Director, Okechukwu Udeichi, over alleged copyright infringement, breach of confidentiality, and trademark violations arising from MTN’s twentieth anniversary promotional marketing campaign.

Delivering judgement on Tuesday, Justice Ayokunle Faji held that the plaintiffs failed to ascertain any legally protectable proper of their proposal titled “20 for 20”, describing the motion as frivolous, speculative, and vexatious.

The court docket dismissed the go well with in its entirety and awarded N3m in prices towards the plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs instituted the motion underneath Swimsuit No. FHC/L/CS/1935/2021, alleging that MTN unlawfully used their “20 for 20” proposal, which they claimed to have submitted to the telecoms firm on 17 September 2019, forward of MTN’s twentieth anniversary celebration in 2021.

They argued that MTN’s anniversary promotion, wherein 20 sport utility autos got out to subscribers, emanated from their proposal and amounted to infringement of their copyright, confidential data, and trademark.

Based mostly on these claims, the plaintiffs sought N1bn in damages or, alternatively, an order directing MTN to render an account of income generated from the promotion and remit 50 per cent of it to them.

MTN denied the allegations, contending that the proposal was an unsolicited enterprise concept that imposed no contractual or confidential obligation on the corporate. The telecoms agency maintained that its twentieth anniversary programme was independently developed and that the plaintiffs’ doc was merely a basic enterprise idea not protected underneath Nigerian copyright legislation. MTN additional argued that the plaintiffs lacked a legitimate registered trademark and did not exhibit entry to or copying of any protected expression.

In resolving the dispute, Justice Faji famous that the plaintiffs conceded throughout oral submissions that they did not show their declare of trademark infringement, leaving solely the problems of alleged breach of confidentiality and copyright infringement for willpower.

On confidentiality, the court docket held that no confidential relationship existed between the events. Justice Faji noticed that earlier than sending the proposal to MTN, the plaintiffs had already submitted it to the Nigerian Copyright Fee and relied on it for a trademark software, thereby inserting the doc within the public area.

The decide additional famous that after transmitting the proposal to MTN, the plaintiffs admitted circulating it to different organisations, which extinguished any declare to confidentiality. In keeping with the court docket, MTN had no obligation to answer an unsolicited proposal within the absence of a contractual, fiduciary, or enterprise relationship, or a non-disclosure settlement.

On the allegation of copyright infringement, the court docket held that registration with the Nigerian Copyright Fee doesn’t confer copyright, stressing that Nigerian legislation protects expressions, not concepts or enterprise ideas.

Justice Faji dominated that the plaintiffs’ “20 for 20 Millennium Promotion” amounted to not more than an concept of rewarding clients throughout an anniversary celebration and lacked the originality and mental effort required for copyright safety.

He described the proposal as a naked enterprise idea devoid of authentic qualities able to attracting copyright. The decide additionally held that MTN’s use of the phrase “MTN twentieth Anniversary” was a pure description of an anniversary occasion and didn’t originate from any protectable work of the plaintiffs.

He additional relied on proof exhibiting that MTN associates in different jurisdictions had applied related anniversary reward concepts earlier than the plaintiffs’ proposal.

Justice Faji characterised the go well with as a “gold-digging train” geared toward forcing a business relationship on MTN. He criticised the plaintiffs for utilizing MTN’s trademark of their proposal with out authorisation after which in search of to floor a billion-naira declare on the identical doc, including that the case wasted useful judicial time.

Whereas affirming that residents ought to have entry to the courts, the decide harassed that such entry have to be restricted to fits with prima facie benefit. He due to this fact awarded N3m in prices in favour of MTN, holding that prices should observe the occasion.

The court docket accordingly dismissed the go well with in its entirety and ordered the plaintiffs to pay the awarded prices to the defendant.