The High Court has declined to temporarily stop Multichoice Kenya Ltd from airing a film on its platforms, pending the determination of a petition filed by a Kenyan claiming infringement of his works.
Justice Abigael Mshila dismissed the application by Film Factory Ltd saying there is no evidence of copyright infringement as the complainant did not table any proof that the film was his original work.
“Based on the material placed before this Court, the Court is not satisfied that the Applicant has a prima facie case to warrant the grant of an injunction order,” the judge said.
Film Factory Ltd sued MultiChoice Kenya and Moon Beam Productions Ltd claiming that the storyline falls under works protected in the Berne Convention and Copyright Act.
Mr Justin Macharia, the director of Film Factory Ltd said Multichoice Kenya infringed on his works in a film titled “Baba Twins”.
He said the film was being aired by the entertainment company including in its internet streaming platform known as “Showmax”, to the entire world.
He claimed that he wrote an email while working to an employee of Multichoice on January 22, 2018, expressing the idea of the film written by his producer.
It was his submission that there is the subsistence of copyright emanating from a reading of Section 22(3) of the Copyright Act in the sense that what he sent to Multichoice was a “literary work”.
Mr Macharia told the court that if not stopped, Multichoice will make money while he stands to suffer a loss of potential revenue that could have been gained from the production, airing and release of the film.
Multichoice opposed the application saying Mr Macharia did not have an arguable case because his case was wholly premised on an email correspondence allegedly sent to an employee of Multichoice in 2018.
In the email, he claimed that he gave a storyline and plot of a film called "Houseband."