Olisa Agbakoba, solicitor to Kizz Daniel’s ex-record label, G-World Wide Entertainment, has threatened to stop the singer’s highly-anticipated Boxing
Olisa Agbakoba, solicitor to Kizz Daniel’s ex-record label, G-World Wide Entertainment, has threatened to stop the singer’s highly-anticipated Boxing Day concert billed to hold in Lagos. The Senior Partner of the legal firm, Olisa Agbakoba, at a press conference which held in Lagos said,
“We are going to apply for an injunction to stop it (Kizz Daniel’s concert) because he is tied to us and the matter is still in court; the court has to decide,” Mr Agbakoba told journalists at the gathering.
“We are going to ask the court to stop the show, but if the court says it may not be fair, we would then ask for all the money to be paid to the court. It’s not about him, but the promotion company that is aware of the suit and went ahead to organise the concert. If we don’t do this, this industry will not grow.”
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria also said his stance was due to the contractual dispute between G-World Wide Entertainment Limited (GWW) and Kizz Daniel. The latter has been locked in a legal battle with his former record label in the last two years. The issue stemmed from his desire to exit the label. As a result of the dispute, an injunction prevented him from performing throughout the festive period of December 2017. The ensuing battle saw the singer change his name from ‘Kiss’ to ‘Kizz.’
However, Mr Agbokoba said, the fact that the artiste has changed its name from Kiss to Kizz doesn’t absolve it of the claim for an infringement of intellectual property rights as it is still liable under the common law tort of passing off. He also addressed what he described as the singer’s “breach of the mandatory buy-out clause and infringement of the Intellectual property rights of GWW” at the event. The firm is also demanding N500 million as compensation.
According to Mr Agbakoba, GWW discovered Kizz Daniel, invested in its musical career, as he showed great prospects as a young artiste and, the firm also pooled its resources and industry contacts to ensure that he becomes a shining star in the Nigerian Music Industry.
“Eventually, Kizz Daniel honed his craft with the aid of GWW and became a force to reckon with in the Nigerian Music Industry and then began the impatience and the hunger for independence.
“In 2017, he terminated his Recording Contract with GWW, citing frivolous reasons and GWW proceeded to court to enforce the contract against Kizz Daniels and is seeking reliefs for breach of contract and infringement of its intellectual property rights,” he noted.
Mr Agbakoba also said the Nigerian music industry has over the years shown great growth trajectory, with projections that the industry will hit $50 million by 2020. He, however, frowned at the ‘growing rot’ in the system, of incessant breach and disregard of recording contracts by artistes, “which if not addressed and solutions proffered, will hamper the growth of the industry.”
Mr Agbokoba debunked reports that the label was begrudging Kizz Daniel because he is the only good to have come out of the record label.
“Kizz Daniel has breached the terms of the recording contract and has refused to make amends, which shows that he does not respect the sanctity of contracts and everyone should be wary of dealing with such a dissenter or else they may incur huge liabilities for contributory infringement of GWW’s intellectual property rights or be exposed to third party liability claims,” he noted.
A claim for payment of incurred costs expended by GWW on Kizz Daniel during the subsistence of the Recording Contract and that is captured in Clause 4.1 (d) of the Contract of April 15, 2014. By the said contract, GWW said it has a right to recoup its investment on Kizz Daniel. It says that if the artiste is going to terminate the contract, he can go ahead but he would have to pay back the company’s investment and damages from loss of earnings from scheduled programmes/events prior to the termination.
Meanwhile, the singer appears unperturbed by the development. He put out a new song titled ‘Jaho’ on Monday which he is actively promoting on Twitter and Instagram.
