Raila, Sauti Sol in talks to resolve ‘Extravaganza’ copyright drama
It
has now emerged that the legal teams of both presidential aspirant Raila Odinga
and high-flying Kenyan boy band Sauti Sol are in talks to resolve the much publicized
disagreement over alleged copyright infringement.
This
is according to Sauti Sol’s lawyer Moriasi Omambia, who said the Azimio La Umoja
One Kenya coalition party chief’s team was dedicated to putting the matter to
an amicable rest.
“I would like to confirm that the Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign and their lawyers are working with us, the @sautisol legal team, to resolve the infringement matter at hand. We acknowledge their willingness to quickly resolve the matter at hand,” wrote Moriasi on Twitter.
The battle lines were drawn after Sauti Sol threatened legal
action against Azimio over the usage of its ‘Extravaganza’ hit song in a video
unveiling Odinga’s presidential running mate, Martha Karua, on Monday.
The
band said the political outfit’s actions amounted to copyright infringement,
adding that it had not agreed to any association with Azimio's campaigns.
“This action is a flagrant disregard of our
basic and fundamental rights to property and freedom of association. Through
their action they have taken away the right to own and control what is
originally and solely our property," Sauti Sol said in a statement then.
“We are not
aligned to nor associated with the Azimio La Umoja Campaign or any other
Political Movement...We are fully apolitical."
However,
Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party, in mitigation, said using the
song was just but "a show of love for their
work" and a gesture of admiration for the celebrated group.
"We would like to assure our celebrated musical team
Sauti Sol that we love them and appreciate their music so much. The group has
carried our country’s flag so high in international fora & every Kenyan
appreciates this. Playing their song yesterday was a show of love for their
work," ODM wrote.
The matter has since caused a bit of confusion online, with
the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) and the Music Copyright Society of Kenya (MCSK)
both issuing contradictory statements as far as what permits and licences were
required of Azimio in order to use the song, or not.
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