US-based Kenyan Hip-hop artist Hubert Nakitare aka Nonini has won copyright infringement legal battle after successfully suing influencer Brian Mutinda and the Japanese company Syinix electronics for using his song without his consent.
On Thursday, the defendants were given a judgment by the Milimani Law Courts ordering them to pay KES 1 million in general damages to Nonini for violating his copyright.
David Katee, the attorney representing Nonini, also told NTV that Syinix and Mutinda had been told to take the illegal material down from all of their platforms, pay Nonini’s legal costs, and pay interest at the court’s rate.
In addition to expressing his joy at their success, Katee advised influencers to exercise extreme caution and obtain legal counsel regarding copyright issues in order to avoid similar pitfalls.
“Intellectual property is property like any other. The same way you cannot trespass on someone’s land, is the same way you cannot use someone’s intellectual property without their permission. So copyrights and any other intellectual property must be respected,” Katee said.
The case stemmed from a video that Mutinda posted on his Instagram page in April 2022, promoting a new flat screen TV from Syinix.
The video featured Nonini’s hit song “We Kamu”, which was synchronized with the visuals without a license from the artiste. The same video was also posted on Syinix’s verified Facebook page.
In July 2022, Nonini had written to the Mutinda and Syinix demanding compensation and an apology. He also shared the court documents on his social media pages, alerting his fans of the legal action.
However, the defendants did not comply with his request, prompting Nonini to file a lawsuit through his lawyers in August 2022.
Syinix, on the other hand, denied making any video that infringed on Nonini’s copyright and claimed that it was unaware of any rights associated with the song.
However, the company expressed interest in discussing the possibility of issuing a “We Kamu” synchronization license to Nonini.
Nonini is regarded as one of the pioneers of Kenyan urban music and the godfather of genge. He has released several albums and collaborated with local and regional artistes. He is also the founder of P-Unit (Pro-Habo Unit), a rap group that has won several awards.
Wakadinali versus Brian Mutinda
Besides Nonini, Brian Mutinda is facing yet another legal suit against the rap group Wakadinali.
The drill rap group sued Mutinda for using their song ‘Geri Inegi’ in one of his content pieces. The group said attempts to resolve the matter out of court had hit a snag.
“It is with great sadness that we bring this to the public, our music was being infringed upon by some entities and we tried to resolve it privately but they refused to settle with us,” Wakidanali said.
Squad Digital, a subsidiary of Scangroup, an agency under which Mutinda works, however, responded to Wakadinali saying that the music used in the commercial was available in the Instagram music library and was therefore licensed under the platform.
“Please be advised that one can record a reel with their own original audio with original audio by another reels creator or with music from the Instagram music library using the audio tool in reels. Licensed audio is copyrighted audio available on the Instagram music library,” said the letter by the scan group.
The influencer was required to issue an apology on his social media pages as well as on the pages where his client published content with the song.
