A
Federal High Court on Friday, November 13, awarded King Sunny Ade N500
million as damages for copyright infringement. Also included was an
additional N3 million for prosecuting the case.
This is coming thirty years after the Juju music legend took record manufacturing company African
Songs and its subsidiary Take Your Choice Stores to court.
The two companies
were ordered to pay the sum by Justice James Tsoho of the Federal High
Court in Lagos, while delivering judgment in the suit first instituted
by the musician in 1975.
King Sunny Ade had
stated in his statement of claim that in 1975, a contract dispute arose
between him and the two companies culminating to a judgement delivered
by Justice Dosumu presiding over a Lagos high court.
According to him,
in the said judgement the court ordered the companies to return the
master tapes of the original musical works produced under the label of
the two companies by Sunny Ade and his green sport back to him, but
before the master tape could be returned the chairman chief Executive
Office of the two companies Chief Bolarinwa Abioro died.
Consequently, in a
bid to retrieve the master Tapes Sunny Ade in 1997 dragged the two
companies before a federal high court in Lagos, joined as co-defendants
are, Lati Alagbada, Record manufacturing Nigeria limited, Ibukunola
printers, Alhaja Awawu Ade Amodu,and M.O. Alagbada, who he alleged have
been using the master tapes to produce inferior qualities of his musical
works and sell them to members of the public thereby depriving him of
his means of livelihood.
Many of these companies don't exist anymore though...
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