After winning a copyright infringement case in Uganda, Jamaican dancehall artist Konshens was awarded 667 million Ugandan shillings ($180 000) in compensation.
On the 21st of August, Justice Patricia Mutesi issued her decision in a case that pitted the artist against Ugandan telco Airtel and two premium rate service providers, OnMobile Global and MTech Communications – the first, second, and third defendants, respectively.
Konshens accused the three firms in a 2015 case filed at the High Court in Kampala of illegally distributing eight of his songs as caller tunes under Airtel Uganda‘s Hello Tunes program for Ush600 per download.
Konshens claimed that the defendants infringed on his intellectual property and refused to account for or pay him royalties from music usage.
The artist established that he is the author and composer of the songs in question, including ‘Simple Song,’ ‘Gyal A Bubble,’ and ‘A So Mi Tan,’ and that he never assigned or divested the defendants of the songs’ rights.
The court in a statement said:
“The plaintiff is therefore seeking for declarations that the defendants’ sale of his songs as caller tunes without his consent and without passing to him the proceeds thereof amounted to infringement of his copyright and unjust enrichment.”
The artist requested, in addition, a costs order as well as general and exemplary damages.
In its defense, Airtel Uganda claimed that it did not violate Konshens’ intellectual property rights because it had signed a caller ring back tone (CRBT) services agreement with OnMobile Global. According to the agreement, it merely granted OnMobile Global access to its mobile network and clients, but the caller ringtones were received and distributed by OnMobile Global via its own methods.
OnMobile Global also denied infringing on Konshens’ copyrights, claiming that it had signed into content provider agreements with MTech Communications to provide its clients with digital artistic works. Meanwhile, MTech Communications stated that it had an arrangement with OnMobile Global to supply caller tunes to Airtel and that it only supplied OnMobile Global with licensed works from its content portfolio, which did not include any of the plaintiff’s songs.
Airtel Uganda and OnMobile Global were found guilty of copyright infringement by Justice Mutesi, however MTech Communications was acquitted.
“The first defendant gave the second defendant access to its mobile network system for the purpose of enabling it to distribute the suit songs to Airtel subscribers,” she said. “It published on its website an advertisement inviting its customers to subscribe for the songs as caller tunes, with instructions on how to purchase and download them. It is clear that the first defendant’s actions enabled and facilitated the second defendant to distribute or sell the suit works through its Airtel network and to its subscribers. The first defendant also financially benefited from the said distribution.”
Mutemi granted 15% annual interest on the $180,000 from the moment the suit was filed. She also ordered Airtel Uganda and OnMobile Global to pay the artist Ush20 million and Ush30 million in exemplary damages for copyright infringement, respectively.
