Syinix Electronics, an African-based home appliance brand, has been ordered to pay Ksh4 million in general damages to Kenyan rapper Nonini after a judge in Nairobi found that the company published a video advert synchronising one of his tracks.
In a decision issued yesterday on Thursday, September 5, Principal Magistrate Hosea Ng’ang’a completely agreed that the Synix video advertisement, which was posted in their social media accounts in mid-2022, had copied a part of Nonini’s 2003 song “We Kamu” without permission.
“The video was played during the virtual Court. The video depicts the 1st defendant welcoming a lady to his house to watch a television screen branded in the names of the 2nd defendant. The 1st defendant is alone in the house’s living room, and the skit is in sync with the song lyrics,” Principal Magistrate Ng’ang’a said in the ruling. “In the circumstances, I will award the plaintiff the sum of Ksh4,000,000 as general damages for infringement of his copyright.”
Nonini, whose real name is Hubert Mbuku Nakitare, 41, is to receive the Ksh4 million plus the cost of the suit and interest from the date of judgment.
The decision is believed to be one of the largest damages awards in a music copyright case in Kenya. In one of the few comparable cases, in 2019, Safaricom and two others were ordered to pay Ksh4.5 million for infringing on three songs by musician and MC Simon Kimani, more popularly known as Bamboo.
The “We Kamu” suit was filed sometime in 2023, and Nonini had sued Syinix and content creator Brian Mutinda, who worked on the video ad.
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