Why Sabinus Sued Peak Milk And Gala 1.1 Billion For Intellectual Property Theft

Following the recent announcement by the Developing Africa Group and Koibanx last week on how Nigeria plans to commercialize its intellectual property rights (IPR), the breaking news today has confirmed how necessary this is for Nigeria.

Earlier today, the popular comedian Chukwuemeka Emmanuel, known as Sabinus went public with his intention to sue Friesland Foods Wamco Nigeria and UAC Food LTD. The companies behind the manufacture of Peak Milk And Gala respectively.

Sabinus’s Story

Commercializing Nigeria’s IPR gives the average Nigerian citizen, the opportunity to prove their ownership of intellectual properties.

It also ensures that proper compensation, acknowledgment, and royalties be received by these verified owners.

The story of the 2022 AMVCA Online Social Content Creator, Sabinus, is another of those cases where intellectual property has been used without prior acknowledgment of the owner.

According to the owner of the talent management agency to which Sabinus belongs, there is a ‘demand of one billion naira’ from Friesland Foods Wamco Nigeria for the usage of Sabinus’s ‘trademarked phrase~ Something hooge’.

They are also demanding ‘a hundred million naira for using Sabinus’s investor’s vibes Image’ on their advert ‘to drive people to their brand’.

Nigerians have taken to social media to express their sentiments on the situation. Many are of the impression that the phrase something hooge is all over the internet and aren’t copyrighted.

Sabinus legal representative, Stanley Alieke, has however said:

“It will interest you to know that the phrase ‘something hooge’, which was popularized by our client, has been trademarked and legally reserved as his intellectual property by the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.

Sabinus’s Lawyer

According to him, the slogan was trademarked on the 26th of November 2021 with the file number: NG/TM/O/2021/48316. 10. 

Both companies have also been given two weeks from the receipt of the notice to comply.

How Will Intellectual Property Theft Be Abated?

The development with the Developing Africa Group and Koibanx to commercialize Nigeria’s intellectual property rights using the Algorand blockchain would pose a solution to intellectual property thefts.

On the corporate side, firms and organizations can get if a property has been copyrighted or trademarked because the blockchain is transparent. 

This will reduce the use of people’s property due to ignorance and save them from falling prey to lawsuits.

On the individual side, citizens can fully prove ownership and dissolve doubts regarding their property. It also allows citizens to get due compensation, acknowledgment, and royalty for the usage of their intellectual property.

Algorand’s Role In The Commercialization Of Nigeria’s Intellectual Property Rights.

The Nigerian government chose Algorand as the underlying technology to be used in its trade of intellectual property rights.

Interestingly, several Nigerian projects are building on the Algorand blockchain too. There’s Loozr and Crypto Smart.

About Crypto Smart

Crypto Smart, Africa’s No 1 Asset management company, is set to launch one of its blockchain products, Bitsave Protocol, on Algorand blockchain, watch this interview on CryptoTv+ as miss Karla Obakpolor throws some insight on how the Bitsave Protocol works.

According to Karla Obakpolor, Founder of Crypto Smart;

“Bitsave protocol, which is a SaveFi protocol, will be built on Algorand blockchain and is being patented and trademarked before the Crypto Smart team goes public with the product.”

Karla Obakpolor has also highlighted some benefits to this IP development in NFTs, Patenting process, and more. She also highlighted some concerns as to this new development.

Find out more in her tweet thread.