More worries for telco - a company is demanding N2B for alleged copyright infringement

Everybody is coming after Etisalat, as the telecom company’s woes continue to pile up. V-Exchange, an instant finance solutions company, is demanding N2 billion from the company for alleged copyright infringement.

The bone of contention is Etisalat’s ‘Kwik Cash’ loan service product which V-Exchange says the telco stole. Speaking to journalists in Lagos, Samuel Ajiboyede, co-founder at V-Exchange, said he met with Etisalat officials in November 2016 concerning his company’s product and partnership options.

Etisalat officials were impressed, Ajiboyede said, and asked for more details. The Etisalat reps then asked Ajiboyede to secure a short code license from the NCC so a deal could be put in place, he said.

His short code application to the NCC was never attended to but, to his surprise, Etisalat went ahead to launch the product without his company’s knowledge, Ajiboyede said.

Also speaking to journalists, Kemi Ayinde, V-Exchange’s CEO, said people were even calling to congratulate her on getting her company’s product launched without knowing that her company had nothing to do with the launch.

In a letter addressed to the CEO of Etisalat from the chambers of Ubani & Co dated January 10, 2017, V-Exchange demanded N2 billion in compensation from Etisalat for alleged copyright infringement.

An excerpt of the letter read: ‘’Our client has tested your product on several customers of your company and confirmed that the said product was the exact product for which it has exclusive right.

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“That this abysmal unlawful conduct of your company as highlighted above, has infringed our client’s products for which copyright subsisted despite the caveat by known owners being ‘our client’ that no part of this shall be reproduced or copied in any material form without its prior authorisation.”

In response, Etisalat has since denied the claims saying its Kwik Cash solution was already launched before the meeting with V-Exchange.

In a text sent to The Guardian, Oluseyi Osuntedo, Etisalat’s Head of Corporate Communication, said Kwikcash is a financial service owned and operated by a licensed financial institution with all relevant approvals from NCC and CBN to offer service, stressing that the owner of the product merely offers the service on Etisalat’s network platform.

“Even during the meeting with V-Exchange in November 2016, the discussions were for a different product, which purported to use airtime for payment or to transfer monetary value. Etisalat could not proceed with that as it’s not a permitted transaction going by mobile payments guideline,” Osuntedo said, according to The Guardian.

“In addition, V-Exchange could not provide relevant approvals allowing it to provide the service. KwickCash was deployed on Etisalat’s network platform well before the proposal by V-Exchange.”

This is the latest in Etisalat’s not-so-great start to the year. A consortium of banks had tried a take-over attempt over an unserviced debt facility from 2015 and it’s parent company in Dubai is already pondering a sale. Can the telco pull through?