Mavin Records, Davido Music Worldwide (DMW), and Chocolate City Music are among the 11 record labels that have secured an interim court order preventing the Musical Copyright Society of Nigeria (MCSN) from accessing or disbursing copyright levy funds.
Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, justice of the federal high court,
Lagos, granted an interim Mareva injunction on Thursday, restraining the
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and over 20 commercial banks from disbursing any
copyright levy funds intended for MCSN.
The order, which also bars MCSN from receiving or dealing
with the funds, came following an urgent ex parte application by the Record
Label Proprietors’ Initiative and 11 of its members on February 5.
The plaintiffs, who moved the application through Oragwu
Nnamdi, their counsel, argued that the funds, which are collected on imported
materials like blank CDs and flash drives, belong to them and other rights
holders, not the collecting society.
The plaintiffs include Mavin Records Ltd, Davido Music
Worldwide Ltd, Premier Music Publishing Limited, Chocolate City Music Limited,
Hypertek Digital Limited and Digital Music Commerce & Exchange Limited
(DMCE).
Others are Beggars Group Media Limited, Universal Music
Group, Sony Music Entertainment Africa, Warner Music South Africa (Pty) Ltd and
Gamma Media Middle East DMCC.
The 2nd to 12th plaintiffs are suing through their lawful
attorney Record Label Proprietors’ Initiative.
In the ex parte motion argued by Nnamdi, the plaintiffs
asked the court to stop the CBN from releasing or transferring any copyright
levy funds meant for MCSN pending the hearing of the motion on notice.
They also urged the court to bar MCSN and its
representatives from accessing or dealing with the funds, whether paid by the
CBN or through commercial banks.
The applicants sought an order directing the CBN and the
affected banks to preserve the funds and file affidavits of compliance within
three days of service of the order, disclosing the sums standing to the credit
of MCSN in respect of the levy payments.
The banks also listed in the application include Access Bank
Plc, Citibank Nigeria Limited, Fidelity Bank Nigeria Plc, First Bank of Nigeria
Plc, First City Monument Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Heritage Bank Plc,
Keystone Bank Limited, Skye Bank Plc and Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria Limited.
Others are Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank Plc, Union
Bank of Nigeria Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc,
Zenith Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited and
Enterprise Bank Limited.
Granting the application, Lewis-Allagoa barred the CBN and
its agents from disbursing any copyright levy funds to MCSN pending the hearing
of the motion on notice.
The court also barred MCSN from receiving, accessing,
utilising, withdrawing, transferring, converting, dissipating or otherwise
dealing with the funds, whether already received or yet to be disbursed.
The judge ordered the CBN and the listed banks to preserve
the funds and, within three days of service, file affidavits disclosing the
amounts held for MCSN.
The court also ordered MCSN to preserve any levy funds
already received that relate to the 2nd to 12th plaintiffs’ sound recordings
after they opted out of collective management.
MCSN was also directed to render an account of such funds
and refrain from any further dealings with them pending the hearing of the
motion on notice.
After listening to submissions from counsel to the
plaintiffs/applicants, the court granted the orders as prayed and adjourned the
matter to March 12, 2026, for hearing of the motion on notice.
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