2Baba & Annie Idibia Slapped With N120 Million Lawsuit

A photographer, Mr Emmanuel Okolo, has sued musician, 2Baba, his wife, Annie and one Antonio Anifite for copyright violation.

According to CHANNELSTV, Mr Emmanuel sued the couple and Antonio, alongside his company, Papilonmexy Films Studio, before the Federal High Court in Lagos, asking for a sum of N120m in damages for using some pictures he took at the couple’s traditional wedding in Uyo in 2013, without giving him any credits.

Mr. Emmanuel claimed he had watermarked the photos using his company name and few days after the wedding, Mrs Idibia contacted him asking for the photos which he sent to her immediately. He added that she complained about the watermark on the photos when the photos got to her, asked that the watermark be removed and sent one Antonio Anifite to negotiate with him.

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He added that he released the photos to Antonio immediately, free of charge, thinking that when they are uploaded on 2faceonline.com (2face’s personal website), he will be credited for his work but was astonished to find out that when the photos he took were uploaded, 148 out of the 355 high-resolution photographs were uploaded with ”2faceonline.com” watermark on them.

However, reacting to the allegations, 2face and Annie said that the photographer was not invited to their wedding. They added that shortly after the ceremony, they saw their photos on the internet with Mr Emmanuel’s company name, Papilonmexy Films Studios on them.

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They said the photographer subsequently forced the photos on them, claiming he would like to use 2Baba to gain fame and brand patronage. They, however, made him understand that the only way they would use the photos was for him to remove the watermarks completely, which he allegedly agreed.

The couple accused the photographer of having a premeditated plan to blackmail and extort money from them and urged the court to order Emmanuel and his company to render  account as well as make full disclosure of all sums and profit made from the unauthorised commercial usage of their photos.

They are also demanding N150m damages and an order of perpetual injunction restraining Emmanuel and his studio from further commercialization of their photographs.