Sir Victor Uwaifo threatens singer with lawsuit over alleged theft of "Joromi"

Sir Victor Uwaifo has accused Simi » of stealing his intellectual property, being "Joromi."

According to the veteran singer, Simi is in trouble » and this could only mean a possible lawsuit.
   In an interview with Sahara Reporters , Uwaifo who released the hit song 'Joromi' in 1969 says the song has fallen victim to intellectual property theft.

He noted that Simi » failed to give him credit » after the release of her 2017 version of the hit track.

Uwaifo said this at the Annual General Meeting of Copyright Society of Nigeria COSON, held at Sheraton Hotels, Ikeja, Lagos State.
   He described copyright and Intellectual property theft as a grievous crime in Nigeria, adding that it must be dealt with as it is damaging the creativity of new generation musicians.

He said, "Copyright is a very serious business and the contravention of copyright laws is more serious than you can imagine.
"Most people still believe that someone can just pick somebody's work, which we call intellectual property right, and use it for his own benefit of the detriment of the composer, the man who actually created the work."

Uuwaifo lamented that the process of making music has experienced a significant change in recent times, as more "mediocres” are now in the game.
   He adds, "You know it takes time to create a work; it takes a lot of research to be able to come out with a piece of work. You know one single track is equivalent to research journal and then a whole record is equivalent to a book publication, so people don’t understand it they don’t know.

"You don’t just wake up in the university then you just put anything down and you call it a journal or a book. It takes a lot of research to be able to do one piece of music. The composition, the lyrics, the music, the score, the arrangement, the production and booking of the studio all cost money, and someone will just come and take the work and use it as his own or probably do an advert on it.”

Uwaifo revealed that he is currently suing Pepsi to the tune of N500million for using one of his tracks in one of its adverts without his consent.
 "Pepsi used my song 'Arabade.
"I'm suing Pepsi for N500million; the case is already at the Federal High Court in Benin.”

Asked if he saw his legal action against Simi as wrong, Uwaifo said, “One after the other. I cannot just take everybody to court at the same time. I don’t know whether he or she; I know she is but I know somebody is behind it. An LP was sent as a compliment; I'm still looking at it but they were planning to come to Benin to see me; up till now, they haven't come, so I'm just putting that one on hold.
"'Joromi' is a franchise; the name never existed before. Benin doesn’t have “J” in their language; if any started with 'J' in Benin then it is fake. All consonant words start with vowel sounds. For example, if I use the trademark of one of these soft drinks, it is wrong. So Simi is in trouble.”

Report was reached out to Simi's team in hopes of getting her side of the story, but we are yet to hear back from them.