Rapper Nonini wins copyright infringement case against influencer, awarded Ksh.1 million

Last year, online influencer Brian Mutinda, in an advert for TV manufacturing company Synix, used Nonini's legendary song 'Wee Kamu' in his content without permission.

Brian Mutinda and Synix Electronics were both listed in the lawsuit as the first and second respondents respectively. 

Initially, Nonini reacted to the ad with a tweet, posting, "Syinix Electronics decided to do a very brilliant advert using my song WeKamu. The only problem is they didn't ask for permission."

Now, less than a year later, the Milimani Commercial Magistrate ruled in Nonini's favour. Nonini has now been awarded Ksh.1 million in general damages for copyright infringement and Mutinda has been directed to pull down the unauthorised video from his social media platforms.

Reacting to the news, Nonini said that the date of the conclusion of the case will "go down in history."

"Today March 23rd 2023 will go down in history (Year of the Jordan) & is a win for the Kenyan Music Industry #Mgenge2ru Vs the people who used my song "WeKamu" to push a product," he said.

According to the rapper who has been responding to queries about the case on Twitter, the matter was first heard on July 27, 2022 and was concluded on March 23, 2023.

Celebrating the speed with which the case was settled, Nonini said, "That was quick! I have like 3 others with huge companies still in court for 5 years and counting."

Nonini was represented by intellectual property lawyer David Katee who also took to Twitter to celebrate the news. Simply tweeting; "We Won!"

While responding to a query from Citizen Digital, the advocate said that they shall be obtaining the physical copy soon, probably by Monday.

"The judgment was read yesterday. We are yet to get a physical copy but it was ordered that they do the following; - Pay Nonini Kshs 1Million general damages, pull down the copyright infringing content from all their platforms, pay Nonini costs of the suit (and also) pay interest at court rate." he said.

A clearly-excited Nonini also quoted a popular '50 Cent' line while demanding for his money, saying, "General damages plus cost of suit and interest! I'm gonna need that by Monday!"

Speaking to Citizen Digital on phone, Katee said he was thrilled with the ruling and added that, just like land, intellectual property was, indeed, property too.

"We are thrilled with the results. I'm an intellectual property lawyer and this is not the first such case I've handled. I do this every day. Just like any other property, intellectual property needs to be safeguarded just like a piece of land too. Someone cannot just trespass into your land and get away with it. You sue them. Same case happens to these sort of cases. Someone has invested a lot to create content that the public consumes. You cannot just wake up and use their property without the owner's rights," David Katee, Nonini's lawyer, said.

"An artist spends a lot of money recording a song, doing several takes, mixing and mastering it, shooting an expensive video, all of that. The cheapest good quality video today goes for Ksh.300,000. Imagine all the money spent by the artist for you to now decide to use their property for free. Corporates need to understand that you need permission before using someone's hard work."

Nonini shot to fame in the early 2000s as one of the creators of the now-legendary 'Genge' sound.

'We Kamu', the song in the middle of the lawsuit, became a nationwide hit back in 2003 when it was first released. The song also earned widespread notoriety amongst Kenya's conservatives who branded it 'immoral and too explicit'.