Asake doesn’t owe ‘Help me, help me’ officer royalties – Lawyer

An entertainment Lawyer, Rapheal Irenen, has disclosed that popular singer, Ahmed Ololade, does not owe police officer, Helen Utabor, any royalties.

Utabor became popular in 2022 through a viral video shouting “Help me, help me. E dey carry me go where I no know”

Recently, Utabor was reported to have been injured in an accident and Asake supported her with N5m.

This generated reactions as some claimed that Asake should have done beyond that while some claimed Asake should have paid the officer royalties from him for using her voice in his “Peace be unto you” song.

Irenen clarified this on Monday while speaking on Arise TV’s Good Morning Show.

He noted that there are six classes of work entitled to copyright under the Nigerian Copyright Act.

He listed them to include literary work, artistical work, music work, sound recording, broadcast, and audio visual work.

According to him, the viral video falls under audio visual works category.

When asked if Asake owes Utaboh royalties, Irenen simply replied, “Looking at the provisions of the law, the simple answer is No.”

Explaining further, Irenen said, “Copyright in an audio visual work goes to the author. Copyright generally under the Nigeria Copyright Act goes to the author. That is Section 28 of the Nigeria Copyright Act.

“The video itself comprises the woman’s voice. It is quite reasonable to expect that people would advocate that she be compensated. But it doesn’t really work that way.”

He made reference to Section 28 of the Nigerian Copyright Act which states “In the absence of any agreement, copyright ownership in an audio visual work goes to the author.”

He referred to the man who recorded the viral video in 2022 as the author.

“The video was a spontaneous activity. If there was an agreement that stated the lady (Utaboh) would be entitled to something, royalties or she has certain ownership over the said video, that would have been different. But there was no agreement to that effect. The young man took out his phone and started recording,” Irenen added.

He noted that the argument that Utabor deserves a royalty is not tenable.

He gave the reason as “If you remove the lady’s voice, you make it a stand-alone item. Asake only used her voice alone. He did not use the video.”

A series of Irenen tweets sighted by our correspondent earlier read, “Firstly, she is not entitled to any royalty accruing from the song. Though her voice was used/sampled in the record, she is not the owner of the video, from which her voice was expunged and used for the said song. Recall that a video was made where she was seen shouting ‘Epp me.’

“She is not the owner of that video, despite the fact that she was the main subject of the video. The video belongs to the guy that recorded it. She doesn’t have any intellectual property rights (in this case, copyright) in the said video.

“For all purposes, the person who makes the video owns the video.

“However, she has a right for breach of privacy. Yeah. The video was recorded without her consent, and it was subsequently shared on various social media platforms. This is where she has a case.”