Intellectual Property War Gets Messier As House of Oduduwa Replies Bolanle-Austen Peters Over Moremi The Musical*

*Bolanle Austin-Peters (BAP) does not own the Intellectual Property Rights to Moremi The Musical

The Intellectual Property Rights to Moremi The Musical work is owned by the House of Oduduwa (HoOF).

Mrs Bolanle Austen- Peters did not tell the world the full story of her infringement of Intellectual Property Rights in Moremi the Musical written, produced and performed under agreement between Bolanle Austen Peters Productions (BAP) and House of Oduduwa Foundation(HoOF).

In September 2018, the two parties entered into an agreement where BAP was commissioned to adapt and deliver the Moremi script for stage performance of Moremi The Musical in Nigeria and abroad.

BAP was fully paid for delivering the stage performances including payment for the use of its TerraKulture venue.

In due recourse to Mrs Austen-Peters, the play was billed to continue in December 2019. However, Mrs Bolanle Austen-Peters refused to participate because she was busy with other plans. We pleaded with her to no avail. We had paid for the venue. She told us to cancel. We had no other choice than to commission another production company with their own cheography, music & direction to deliver the stage performance at InterContinental, at additional huge cost to HoOF.

The question we asked ourselves was: Should we be stuck with Mrs Austen-Peters’ personal programmes or preferences when we knew we own the intellectual property rights and we could commission new production especially after her refusal?

That was the disagreement we had with BAP or so we thought it was the only disagreement. Little did we know she could go to the extent of & as far as embarking on streaming the play on YouTube when she knew that was far outside her domain because she did not own the IP rights.

It is unfortunate that those who ought to know better can chose to embark on actions in breach of the law.

For the avoidance of doubt, BAP does not own the Intellectual Property Rights in Moremi The Musical and clearly she could not have owned the rights in the original script or the trademark – “Queen Moremi Ajansoro” belonging to the HoOF, neither does she have the right to exploit the work in the digital media as she has flagrantly done in what she has called her ‘version of the play’.

No ethical entity in the creative or any industry at all would tread that path in infringement of Intellectual Property Rights if they are not under the impression that they are above the law.

It is now her lot to rush to the public arena to justify her unlawful and illegal act.

We promise every well meaning lover of arts that we will not allow this unlawful act to stand, not to the utter disdain on the office of Ooni & the House of Oduduwa Foundation.