The Coalition for the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (CPIPR), a body of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), has demanded an explanation from the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) for the withdrawal of its suit against the Nigeria Breweries (NB) Plc.
The CSOs gave the commission a seven-day ultimatum.
In a letter to the Director-General of the commission, Mr. John Asein, through its lawyer, Sunday Adaji, CPIPR said: “…In August, 2015, Paul Allen Oche, an author, submitted a proposal, titled: The Amstel Factor, to the Amstel Malta Brand Manager of NB Plc at its corporate office in Iganmu, Lagos, for consideration as a new campaign.
“Without any response from the addressee, he subsequently resent electronic copies of the presentation to Samson Oloche, a top-level worker of the company in February, 2016, via his email address; Oloche promised to get back to our client. Unfortunately, Oloche did not respond, even after our client reached out to him twice for feedback.
“On February 27, 2017, our client formally complained to the NCC in Abuja about the unlawful utilisation and infringement on his intellectual property by NB Plc for their 2016 Amstel Malta Why Add More Campaign.
“A round-table meeting was arranged by the NCC in which Nigerian Breweries Plc and our client were in attendance. At the said meeting, the Nigerian Breweries Plc’s Legal & Intellectual Property Manager, Kunle Adaramola, claimed that the ‘Why Add More’ campaign was developed by DDB South Africa, a South African-based branding agency contracted by NB Plc.”
The NCC filed a two-count criminal charge against NB Plc at the Federal High Court, Abuja, which was presided over by Justice Taiwo O. Taiwo.
“A civil action …was also instituted by our client in January, 2019, against NB Plc and three other parties,” the group added.
It recalled that in May, 2019, Mrs. Gladys Isaac-Ojo, the Lead Prosecuting Counsel for the NCC, who was handling Oche’s case, informed him that there was no criminal infringement.
He added that the commission was going to withdraw the charge against NB Plc on the grounds that it was not necessary for the matter to have gone to court in the first place.
“In closing, he advised our client to go and pursue his civil action against NB Plc,” the group said. It added that the commission withdrew the criminal charge on October 21, 2019, without officially informing the author, who was the nominal complainant.
