Kampala City Hall court has granted permission to comedian Alex Muhangi to settle his copyright infringement dispute with musician Moses Ssali aka Bebe Cool out of court.
Senior principal grade one magistrate Nicholas Aisu issued the orders on Wednesday following a request by Muhangi’s lawyer, Robert Rutaro, to allow his client to resolve the dispute outside court.
Muhangi was present, but Bebe Cool did not attend the proceedings. The dispute centres on allegations that Muhangi distributed Bebe Cool’s musical performances on YouTube without permission.
The musician claims that Muhangi uploaded 15 contentious video links between December 2017 and December 2024, making them publicly available and allowing users to extract hard copies.
In a supporting affidavit before the court, detective assistant inspector of police Ricky Wasswa Baliruno asserts that the suspect “broadcasted the musical performance videos on NTV Uganda, making them available for the public to view, and directly or indirectly distributed the musical performance videos, making them available for the public to extract hard copies.”
He further swears: “That I swear this affidavit in support of an application to secure a court order, to order to access, inspect, retrieve, examine and analyze the content in links marked as exhibits 1 to 15 to determine whether the videos were uploaded on the YouTube channel alexmuhagicomedian?si=BJJqCFJ0tZJPcBzg…”
Court records indicate that the police want to verify the total number of views, comments, and upload dates for each of the 15 links to aid investigations. Bebe Cool has requested the court to allow access, examination, and analysis of Muhangi’s YouTube channel to determine if copyright infringement occurred, in line with the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act, 2006 Cap 222.
Aisu gave Muhangi and Bebe Cool until April 1, 2025, to reach an out-of-court settlement and report on their progress. If they fail to do so, the case will proceed to a full hearing.
Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo has in the past encouraged dispute resolution through reconciliation, mediation, and arbitration, arguing that it is faster, cost-effective, and reduces the backlog of cases in the court system while helping parties find mutually beneficial solutions.
“broadcasted the musical performance videos on NTV Uganda……..” The past tense of the verb “broadcast” is “broadcast”. It is an irregular verb, just like “cost”. Some people have this annoying habit of writing (and saying) “costed”. Please refrain from such undesirable mistakes.
Required to resolve issues through negotiation. Not Order, learn to report!!!
Mr Karim kibedi,must be an English teacher.
But the point has been understood
Muhangi should apologize to bebe cool because what he did wasn’t appropriate. He crossed his boundary.
I request them to settle their matter together than proceeding with court orders.