Ini Edo has been unsuccessful in her legal pursuit to establish ownership of the intellectual property rights associated with the creative work titled “Shanty Town.”
The Nigerian Trademark Registry (NTR) and the Nigerian
Copyright Commission (NCC), the regulatory bodies responsible for trademarks
and copyright, have respectively dismissed the petition filed by actress Ini
Edo regarding the ownership of the popular Netflix series, ‘Shanty Town’. The
decision was made in favor of Ms. Chichi Nworah.
It Is worth noting that actress Ini Edo and filmmaker Ms.
Chinenye Nworah have been engaged in a legal dispute over the ownership rights
of the hit Netflix series ‘Shanty Town’, which was released in January 2023.
The dispute regarding the ownership of the popular
television series commenced when actress Ini Edo and her production entity,
Minini Empire Productions Limited (MEP), initiated legal proceedings to acquire
the ownership rights of the trademarks "Shanty Town" and “Scar,”
along with the associated copyrights of the series.
The Trademark Registry denied the petition submitted by Ini
Edo and MEP for the trademarks ‘SCAR’ NG/TM/O/2023/121745 and ‘SHANTY TOWN’
On January 10, 2024, the petition filed under
NG/TM/O/2023/97482 was dismissed as baseless and without merit. Consequently,
exclusive ownership of the trademarks was granted to Ms. Nworah.
On July 24, 2024, both the NCC and NTR issued separate
rulings that rejected the petition submitted by Ini Edo and MEP regarding the
annulment of two copyright certificates granted to Chinenye Nworah.
These certificates pertain to the literary work “Shanty
Town” (Certificate Number LW10177) and the audiovisual work “Shanty Town”
(Certificate Number CF1448).
The ruling stated, “The NCC identified no legal basis for
the cancellation and affirmed the legitimacy of the certificates, thereby
recognizing Mrs. Nworah’s rightful ownership of these copyrights.”
The Olisa Agbakoba Legal team remarked, “This case
exemplifies OAL’s dedication to safeguarding the rights of creative individuals
and enterprises amidst intellectual property conflicts.”