Mutoriah is now suing Foi, OPPO Kenya after failing to reach out-of-court settlement

Singer Mutoriah will now move to court after compensation talks with content creator Foi Wambui and Oppo Kenya over copyright infringement of his intellectual property song ‘Beta’ broke down.

Last week, Mutoriah sent a demand letter seen by Nairobi News to the content creator and actress and the Chinese smartphone maker, accusing both parties of using his song ‘Beta’ in an online marketing campaign to promote the OPPO Reno 12 5G device without his consent.

Mutoriah accused Foi of creating a short video to market the device which she posted on her social media pages, which was also picked up by Oppo Kenya and shared on its official social media pages for several days.

“We are informed that in the said video, our client’s song titled ‘BETA’ was synchronized with the visuals without a synchronization license contrary to the provisions of the Kenya Copyright Act Cap 130 Laws of Kenya. The same video was heavily promoted by Oppo Kenya as a sponsored post on Instagram for six days.” Part of the demand letter read.

Also read: Singer Mutoriah threatens to take content creator Foi Wambui, Oppo to court over song ‘Beta’

In the latest development, Nairobi News has established that Ms. Wambui’s management team and OPPO Kenya have since approached Mutoriah’s management for an out-of-court settlement.
However, the resolution of the dispute hasn’t been fruitful. Nairobi News is reliably informed that Foi’s management offered a Sh50,000 out-of-court settlement which Mutoriah rejected.

Frantic efforts were made by Foi’s management to get Mutoriah to accept the offer – albeit without increasing the compensation- but that didn’t work either.
“Mutoriah will now go to court, these are the instructions he has given to his lawyers. The amount offered doesn’t reflect the true value of his artistic work, considering that this is a violation of his intellectual property rights.” A close source in Mutoriah’s camp told Nairobi News.

Separately, Oppo Kenya, through its legal representative Omore & Atieno Associates Advocates, also reached out to Mutoriah’s team, but the two parties couldn’t come to terms.

Oppo Kenya has since responded to Mutoriah’s demand letter, absolving itself of any wrongdoing.
“Our client states that it is not privy to the allegations of copyright infringement as alleged by your client. Further, our client affirms that it has never infringed on your client’s alleged intellectual property rights in his literary works,” reads part of the response.

Oppo Kenya maintains that it never sought the services of Foi Wambui in the first place.
“Our client notes that it had an agency agreement with Alfluence (the advertiser) who later contracted the influencer. Further, any approvals regarding the posting and/or actions related to your client’s allegations, do not stand against our client as it was not privy to the terms between the advertiser and the influencer.” The response continues.

The company says it’s ready to “strenuously oppose” any legal action against it and defend its position in the matter should it end up in court.