Richard Mofe Damijo Set To Sue Jumia

Veteran actor Richard Mofe Damijo popularly known as RMD is suing online giant Jumia over the unauthorized use of his photo.

Jumia, is currently embroiled in a case of unauthorized use of image rights RMD on Jumia Fashion’s Instagram page without the actor’s permission.

The actor in a press release shared today, July 26, 2016 has instructed his lawyer, Mena Ajakpovi of Messrs. Abraham & Co. to engage Jumia and seek redress at the law court if they are defiant.

Further investigations show that Instagram’s term of use prohibits Jumia from using RMD’s pictures for any form of business.

According to Instagram’s terms of use, in section four of its Rights, it states that “You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted by you on or through the Service”.

Jumia however allegedly infringed on this right when it uploaded the images of RMD on it’s platform.

Jumia also allegedly violated Instagram’s community guidelines which states, users only have the right to “Share only photos and videos that you’ve taken or have the right to share”. They also infringe on the copyright policy which protects the original images of a person.

Sub-section two of section four of their terms of use also states: “The posting and use of your Content on or through the Service does not violate, misappropriate or infringe on the rights of any third party . “

Section Four, sub-section four of their terms of use also states “you agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owed by reason of Content you post on or through the Service.”

In one of the pictures where RMD sits on a storage box with a camera lens in his hand, in his own caption, he gives credit to the photographer, creative director of the shoot and stylist.

Whereas Jumia fails to give credit to any of these people or even the owner of the image.

Entertainment lawyer Akinyemi Ayinoluwa of High Tower Solicitors & Advocates spoke to Pulse about the Jumia/RMD situation and stated that Nigeria has no image rights. “Sadly, there is no known law specifically governing image rights in Nigeria.”

He however further said “But it reasonable to argue that since corporate Nigeria pays lots of money to associate with icons, their celebrity should be adequately guarded from unauthorized exploitation.”

Akinyemi Ayinoluwa told Pulse that the Richard Mofe Damijo case can set a benchmark for cases like this in the future. “The RMD issue at hand can provide that avenue to settle this legal issue and lay a precedent. We can find persuasive authorities in other jurisdictions such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom” he said.

Theinfostride has reached out to Jumia concerning this story but we have not gotten any reply yet.