MTN pays out Artist for unauthorized use of a sound recording as ring back tunes.

MTN, a mobile telecom service provider in Nigeria in a spate of bad luck finds itself in court for the third time this year for IP infringement claims. This time the claim was brought about by Abuja based entertainer/artist, Mr. Omenuwoma Dovie a.k.a. Baba 2010 for the unauthorized use of his music as a ring-back caller tune by the company.

Having had their fair share of bad press, MTN has acted quickly and reached an out of court settlement with the Artist Baba 2010. In a turn of events following the settlement of the initial claim, the Nigeria Copyright Commission instituted a criminal prosecution against the company stating that regardless of the settlement the commission will = pursue the criminal prosecution against the company.