A Nigerian lawyer urges the veteran highlife singer, Gentleman Mike Ejeagha, to sue skit maker, Brain Jotter, for using his song to rake in millions of naira while offering only N2M as compensation. The lawyer's advice came after the skit maker began his hunt for the highlife singer following a viral skit that used his song from 2010.
Taking to the X platform, the legal practitioner, identified simply as Nupe Lawyer, emphasized the implications of Copyright Infringement. Nupe Lawyer stressed that Mike Ejeagha would benefit more by suing Brain Jotter rather than accepting the token amount of N2 million naira as compensation.
According to Nupe Lawyer, it is unjust to use someone’s song for content that rakes in millions and offer a mere N2 million as if doing the singer a favor. He highlighted the potential financial gain Mike Ejeagha could secure through legal action against the skit maker.
“I hope the man has a good lawyer😀 you can’t use someone’s song for content raking millions and offer to give the man “2 million” as if you are helping the man🤷♂️,” he wrote.
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The post has since sparked mixed feelings from social media users who argued that the music had been dormant and never made that much in the last 14 years. Reactions ranged from support for the lawyer's stance to criticisms of the argument for royalties, with many pointing out that the song had not generated significant income over the years.
Reactions as lawyer urges Mike Ejeagha to sue Brain Jotter
bigmorsh said: “Not sure the man go do any case sef after 2 million. Since the song has been there, did it fetch him 2m?”
OritogunM penned: “He danced to the song; he didn’t utter a single word, didn’t change the lyrics, didn’t change the tone, didn’t perform the song on stage, the man’s name appeared on the original song tag on Instagram. Now he has to pay royalties? Megan Thee Stallion is presently trending on TikTok; she should also demand royalties from people for dancing to her song?”
IdanFederal opined: “People are funny sha. Person dance to song and be blow. If na so he dey be you know how many artist go don blow?…nobody claimed any intellectual property here like say e reproduce am.”
Creed_printz stated: “Wtf is two million, we ain’t serious in this country.”
revelationrabbi noted: “The funny thing is that the same Nigerians who can’t wrap their heads around the infringement of intellectual property as theft are the same Nigerians who want to protest against bad governance.”