Ultima Limited, producer of popular
music talent hunt show, Project Fame, has denied the infringement claims
levelled against the outfit by singer and producer, Paul Play Dairo.
In a statement, Ultima said the
outfit is not owing Paul Play or any artiste royalties for the use of their
musical works in its show.
It said Ultima, “as a law abiding
corporate citizen, respecting the rights of all stakeholders in her conduct of
business,” has duly paid Copyrights Society of Nigeria, COSON, which was the
government approved collecting agency, for all musical works that they used.
“As is standard practice all over
the world, rather than maintain individual agreements with each one of the
hundreds of artistes whose songs we use, we have a single agreement with their
collection body, COSON, who in turn is responsible for dealing with each
individual artiste. They are responsible for collecting such payments on behalf
of Nigerian artistes, and Ultima has duly paid COSON for use of such music,”
stated the production outfit.
Explaining further, Ultima pointed
out that for the past five seasons of Project Fame, it annually made the
statutory payments due and required for the use of musical works for both local
and international artistes used on the Project Fame show.
In the first two years, it claimed
to have paid the Performing and Mechanical Rights Society Ltd/Gte (PMRS) –
which was the government approved collecting agency at the time, for all
musical works that they used. From the third year when PMRS became Copyrights
Society of Nigeria, COSON, Ultima continued with the payment to COSON for all
the songs used in those years. “…And as such if Paul Play has any issues with
payment of royalties for the use of his musical works, it should be worked out
with COSON and not Ultima nor MTN,” the outfit stated.
But in a swift reaction, Paul Play
denied being a member of COSON and said he has never given the collecting body
right to negotiate or receive any royalties on his behalf from any
organisation.
“As much as I would not want to comment much on
this matter as it is already in court, I will state categorically to you that I
am not a member of COSON. I have never given any right to anyone except my
intellectual property manager. This is a case of theft and everyone involve
will
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