Nollywood star Femi Adebayo has been awarded N25 million in damages against an online TV, Murphy Ben International.
The actor revealed this on his official Instagram handle on Tuesday, adding that the case had to do with the piracy of his movie, ‘Survival of Jelili’.
Survival of Jelili is the story of a young man, Jelili, who struggles to change his social status by changing jobs from boxing to modelling. The movie’s leads include Desmond Eliot, Toyin Abraham, and Dele Odule. It was released in December 2019.
The piracy battle began in March 2021, when the actor instituted legal action at the federal high court in Ibadan over the alleged copyright of his two movies, ‘Survival of Jelili’ and ‘Kodi Ologbon Aye’, by Murphy Ben International through their YouTube channel, ‘Aforefo TV’.
According to the actor, the YouTube channel was guilty of stealing his intellectual property for financial gains.
He said, “They decided to use my movie poster and title to promote a movie on their platform, thereby deceiving fans and diverting revenue accrued to me”.
Piracy is a menace plaguing the Nigerian creative industry, notably Nollywood. For the last two decades, Nollywood has continually had it rough in the hands of these illegal distributors.
“The Nigerian film industry has experienced exponential growth over the years, but we haven’t been able to maximise the true dividends of this business because of dare-devil pirates who benefit where they didn’t show. This is a major reason investors find it hard to commit their funds to filmmakers”, he wrote.
This action threatens producers and paid creatives contracted on these projects, leaving them no choice but to count more losses than gains as they seldom recoup their investments to talk more profits.
Furthermore, he said, “It took three years, but my trust in the legal and justice system remained unwavering with the dedication of our legal team, Bola Adebowale & Co. Legal Practitioners, who are seasoned professionals with a wealth of experience handling such cases. They presented undeniable evidence, argued strongly, and took the case to trial. Their promptness, efficiency, and attention to detail played a huge part in the direction of the case. We won and were awarded a total of N25 million”.
Precedence
Mr Adebayo also stated that this win cuts across the board as it sets precedence for the possibility of things shortly.
He said: “This isn’t just my win as a filmmaker and content producer but for all of Nollywood. We must be ready to fight IP theft and piracy at all levels. Every win brings us closer to protecting and getting the true economic value of our works.”
In January, PREMIUM TIMES reported how actress Toyin Abraham revealed how the piracy of her film, Malaika, released in December 2023 resulted in her having panic attacks and being hospitalised at various times.
The actor-producer claimed she spent almost N500 million on the movie. Later, revelations were made through an investigation by the Federal Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Ikoyi, Lagos, where five persons were arrested concerning the movie’s piracy.
Femi started his acting career with a feature in his father’s movie, Ogun Ajaye, in 1985. Since then, he has featured in a fleet of films acting and directing, counting over 500, such as, ‘Diamonds in the Sky’ (2019), ‘Survival of Jelili’ (2019), a sequel of ‘Jelili’ (2011), ‘Charge and Bail’ (2021).
His most recent works are; ‘Jagun Jagun’ (2023) and ‘Mikolo’ (2023), which he co-produced with Niyi Akimolayan.
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