Popular Nigerian musician, Innocent Idibia, well-known as 2Face, has been slammed with a lawsuit by a photographer at a Federal High Court in Lagos.
The photographer, Emmanuel Okolo, alongside his company, Papilonmexy Films Studios Limited, filed a N120 million copyright infringement suit against the artiste, his wife, Annie, and one Anthonio Anifite before Justice Mohammed Idris.
According to the plaintiff, the defendants used some pictures he took at their traditional wedding in Akwa Ibom State in 2013 without giving him credits.
Okolo said this was contrary to an alleged agreement he signed with the couple when he released the photos to them free of charge.
The photographer claimed 2Face uploaded on his official website about 148 out of the 355 high-resolution photographs he took at the wedding and watermarked them with ‘2faceonline.com’, thereby denying him credit and referral opportunities.
However, the couple has filed a counterclaim, asking for N150 million damages from the photographer and his company.
The Idibias claimed Okolo crashed into their traditional wedding, took pictures and circulated same for commercial gains without their permission. They said Okolo was never invited to their wedding.
According to the couple, the photographer forced the pictures on them, saying he wanted to leverage on their popularity to get referrals.
They, however, claimed that they told him categorically that the only condition on which they could accept the photographs was for him to remove the watermarks of his company, which he allegedly agreed to.
Explaining how they got to know him, the couple claimed after their wedding, they noticed some strange versions of their wedding pictures circulating online with Papilonmexy studio watermark and after painstaking findings, they traced them to the Okolo.
They claimed that upon locating the photographer and expressing their displeasure, he pleaded with them while lamenting that he was hard hit by a downturn in the still photography business and sought any future engagement with them.
