Afrinolly, a Nigerian company based in Lagos has been streaming Nollywood movies and trailers, exclusive to iROKO Partners, and others, without any authorisation or consent from the content owners. Afrinolly has gone further and misrepresented itself with handset manufacturers and telcos alike.
Jason Njoku, CEO of iROKO Partners, says, "In an industry that is rife with misrepresentation, piracy and copyright infringement, we are left with no option but to begin legal action against Afrinolly, who have been illegally building their business on our content.
"We spend millions of dollars legally buying and organising Nigerian content and hundreds of thousands of dollars every year in combating piracy and ensuring movie producers are remunerated properly for their content. It is simply unacceptable for Afrinolly to steal their work and profit from it. It has caused great harm to our Nigerian-based content providers and has placed great strain on the delicate balance and ecosystem that exists. Afrinolly, since its inception, has never bothered to even discuss with us or other content owners and has definitely not remunerated anyone to date.
"We have been approached by a number of Nollywood producers, who have expressed dismay that their movies are being exploited. As part of our commitment to the lifeblood of the industry, the producers, we see no other means than to seriously consider our options, look at how we can manage the damage done to our reputation and bring this extraordinary mass copyright infringement to a swift conclusion."
iROKO Partners has formally asked the owners of Afrinolly to remove all illegally sourced content from iROKO Partners' platform- YouTube channel - (NollywoodLove) and other owned and operated channels. iROKO Partners will be seeking N100Mn compensation.
