Firm Sues Afreximbank Over Breach Of Intellectual Property

A Lagos-based firm, Times Multimedia Limited (TML) has filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos against the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) for alleged infringement on its intellectual property rights.

In the suit marked FHL/CS/627/24, the plaintiff asked the court for N800 million as damages for the allegedly infringing of its intellectual property over an initiative known as Creative African Exchange (CAX).

TML also prayed the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, whether by themselves, agents, privies, assigns or any other persons acting on their behalf, from further infringing on the plaintiff’s intellectual property under the guise of CANEX without first seeking and obtaining the plaintiff’s consent.

Joined as defendants in the suit are the managing director of Afreximbank, Prof. Benedict Orama and three other principal officers of the bank.

In the suit, the plintiff claimed that sometime in 2018, it assembled a team of creative industry experts at its own cost to design a framework for promoting and expanding the African cultural heritage.

At some point, Afreximbank showed interest in the project and approached the plaintiff to sponsor it.

This culminated in the birth of the Creative Africa Exchange (CAX) “as a holistic programme that will consolidate the African creative and cultural industry aligning identified resources in the sector to create a proper economic ecosystem.”

The plaintiff further claimed that as part of the terms of engagement, it was saddled with the responsibility of delivering the creative industry aspect of the Inter-Africa Trade Fair (IATF) in 2018 via letters of intent and appointment dated 3rd and 17th May, 2018, respectively.

Responding in a letter dated May 17, 2018, the plaintiff stated its understanding of its role, which included conceptualising the entire creative industry in the IATF of 2018 through CAX while it retained the intellectual property right since the defendants are bankers.

No date has been fixed for the hearing of the case.