Mobile network operator Safaricom has asked the High Court to dismiss a breach of copyrights case against it by advertising agency Transcend Media.
The giant telco has been sued by Transcend over a Sh208 million youth campaign tender awarded to to rival Saracen. The campaign dubbed “Blaze” promoted Safaricom's tariff targeting the youth.
Transcend claims it won the lucrative deal but Safaricom awarded it to Saracen, which partnered with a firm formed by former Transcend's staff in bidding for the tender.
However Safaricom says the claims by Transcend are baseless and should not be entertained by the court.
The mobile telephone operator says that Transcend is using the case to try to gain financially.
In an affidavit sworn in court Safaricom in-house lawyer Daniel Ndaba says Transcend media failed to demonstrate that the literary work, musical or artistic work in question represent its own original creation.
“The applicant (Transcend) has made no attempt to demonstrate that the Blaze campaign is its pitch or its original idea,” Ndaba says in the affidavit.
Ndaba argues material used for the youth campaign was generated by Safaricom and as a result Transcend cannot purport to lay claim to it.
According to Safaricom some of the orders sought by Transcend are intrusive because they seek to make public personal information belonging to individuals among them chief executive Bob Collymore.
The case will be heard on February 20.
Ndaba’s affidavit was filed in response to a case by Transcend media over award of a contract by Safaricom to Saracen for development of creative advertising and communication services targeting youths.
Safaricom had conducted a study of market trends with an aim of reaching out to all cultures and age groups.
The study found that although the market was dominated by consumption of basic voice services, data consumption is one of the fastest growing services. But the contribution of data to Safaricom’s revenue remained low.
With this in mind Safaricom developed a concept of reaching out to the untapped youth market.
The tender, Safaricom insists, was given to Saracen after successful bidding.
