MTN Nigeria was fined N840M for copyright infringement.
Nigeria News Nalin The report said that the federal high court in Lagos has blasted Nigeria MTN Communications Limited, with the fine for copyright infringement of N840 million.
The Nigerian news platform learned that Justice Akintayo Aluko of the Federal High Court of Lagos fined N840 million on MTN Nigeria Communications Limited for violating the registered trademark “Webplus” owned by Citilink AccessCorp Limited.
Aluko, judge of the suit submitted by Citilink, a judge labeled HC/L/CS/1124/2014, believes that MTN’s use of MTN’s “MTN Webplus” or “MTN Web+” is a parody of “Webplus” which is Citilink cortiLink included limest and Infort and Infrent of plant in infrent of Plant of train of citilink consecorp lime
In his judgment, Justice Aluko awarded N$70 million per year, covering Citilink’s business losses and brand dilution from 2014 to 2025.
The court also ordered MTN to pay 15% interest to the applicant in the judgment amount until the full amount is paid.
Citilink AccessCorp Limited, in a lawsuit filed on July 17, 2024, accused MTN Nigeria of infringing its trademark “WebPlus”, which was legally registered in 9 categories in 2001 and renewed in 2014.
Citilink believes MTN’s use of “MTN Webplus” and similar variants constitute an unauthorized use, misleading the public and undermining its brand.
The applicant joins the trademark registrar, Patent Design as a defendant, representing all entities of the production, marketing and sales of infringing services.
The applicant urges the court to declare that Citilink AccessCorp Limited is the sole legal owner of the “WebPlus” trademark.
The applicant further applies to the court for a permanent injunction to further use of “Webplus” in any form and further use of “Webplus” in any form to prevent the trademark registrar from issuing any trademark rights to MTN under “WebPlus” or any changes.
“This court enforces the judge’s seizure order to destroy all the first defendants’ servers that are escrow, still in escrow, use and still used to transmit information, messages, advertisements, first defendants’ marketing details.
“General damages for torts and compensation are required to be 1.5 billion guild.”
But MTN in Nigeria challenged the court’s jurisdiction, believing that the pending case of the Trademark Tribunal invalidated the lawsuit.
The company also claimed that its application for “MTN Webplus” was filed in 2012, when Citilink’s trademark registration was invalid (between 2008 and 2014).
While saying the applicant failed to prove trademark infringement, the telecom company insisted that its use of “Webplus” was an honest concurrent use, meaning it had no intention of cheating.
It further noted that the applicant lacked sufficient evidence to justify his financial claim.
Justice Aruco rejected MTN’s defense in the ruling and upheld the applicant’s claim for infringement.
However, the court denied some additional claims from the applicant, including the claim for seizure and destruction of the MTN server and the special damages claim due to insufficient evidence.
Judge Aluko also approved a permanent injunction against MTN, prohibiting telecom giants from further using controversial trademarks.
