Lyto Boss sues Namubiru over "Anjagala" song
Jun 10, 2015
Upcoming musician and song writer, Derrick Kantongole alias Lyto boss, has dragged singer Iryn Namubiru to commercial court over copyright infringement of his “Anjagala” song.
By Betty Amamukirori
Upcoming musician and song writer, Derrick Kantongole alias Lyto boss, has dragged singer Iryn Namubiru to commercial court over copyright infringement of his “Anjagala” song.
Lyto boss in his suit filed on Thursday last week accuses the Kawowo songbird of performing the song without his authorization.
He contends that after composing and titling his song, around October 2014, he approached singer Catherine Kusasira and asked her to perform the song. Kusasira refused and recommended him to singer Namubiru but she too refused.
Upon these rejections, he decided to solely produce the song both in audio and video, and then started promoting it on various radios.
It is from this point that he got an invite from Fusion Band manager offering to sign him up as a singer and song writer.
They even invited him to perform his song at water front beach, which he did together with Kusasira. However, due to disagreements on remuneration, he later turned down the offer.
Lyto boss alleges that around March 2015, he was shocked to hear Namubiru in a premier performance, sing his song on a local radio station without his authorization. He claims thereafter the song went viral on different radio stations.
“The plaintiff contacted the defendant for a settlement of the matter but the defendant ridiculed him, saying she had paid one million through Kusasira,” he stated in his affidavit.
He adds that all efforts to have the singer declare publicly that she has no ownership of the song’s copyright were futile.
He says the actions of Namubiru’s infringement on his copyright have caused him a lot of frustrations, mental and psychological anguish.
“The plaintiff contends that the actions of the defendant are fragrant and calculated to defraud the plaintiff, an upcoming artist and frustrate his ambitions in the music industry,” reads part of the plaint.
Lyto Boss now wants court to declare that he is the owner of the song’s copyright and she (Namubiru) is an imposter.
He wants court to impose a permanent injunction against Namubiru, prohibiting her and her agents from performing, broadcasting, reproducing, distributing or otherwise dealing in the song.
He also wants court to grant him general damages, costs of the suit and interest on sh50m that he purports to be the price worth of his song, at commercial rate from the date of filing the suit till full payment.
On the other hand, however Lyto Boss states that he is ready to surrender the copyright to her if she compensates him.