Comedian Tunde Ednut has officially been placed on notice with a twenty-four hour ‘Cease and Desist’ (i.e. stop it now) letter from Nigerian music producer Oluwaseyi Akerele aka Shizzi through his lawyers, for the alleged copyright infringement of his song ‘Kosowo.’
In a nutshell, Shizzi claims he created the sound recording (the instrumental). He then enlisted the services of a composer/songwriter to work with him. They did not complete the project and instead tailored it for a later date. To Shizzi’s surprise, he discovered that Tunde Ednut infringed on the instrumental and used the composition by the artist he enlisted. So, this is an all around blatant theft by Ednut, according to the allegations.
Is a 24hour turn around time given by Shizzi’s lawyers practical? Clearly not. With the way the demand letter is framed, I see a lawsuit right around the corner.
The infringing song and artist
Read the demand letter below.
NOTE: If you are an artist faced with a lawsuit or interested in filing one, visit Nigerian Entertainment Lawyers Group on Facebook for a listing of entertainment lawyers that can assist you. Figure the one that works best for you (make sure you look for those in your specific country), research them (use Google, ask around) and then directly contact them.
Other recommended AML resources for finding Nigerian entertainment lawyers are as follows:
- Entertainment Law Roundtable with Entertainment Lawyers Xerona Duke, Ollachi “Enze” Holman.
- Entertainment Law Roundtable with Entertainment lawyer Ollachi “Enze” Holman.
- Entertainment Law Interview with LegalByte Lawyers Lumi Mustapha, Foza and Iredumare.