Singer Ewa Cole has filed a lawsuit against music executive JJC Skillz and director Funke Akindele. The lawsuit claims that they committed copyright infringement of her songs in the movie “She Must Be Obeyed.” The producer of the movie is SceneOne Entertainment, which was co-directed by Funke Akindele and her ex-husband JJC Skillz.
The movie features a cast that includes Nancy Isime, Abdulateef Adedimeji, Akah Nnani, Veeiye, Waje, Patience Ozokwo, Rachael Okonkwo, and Mike Ezuronye. It was a five-part series that made headlines and went viral.
However, Ewa Cole has submitted a case to the Federal High Court of Lagos asserting her ownership of the rights to “Opoor” and “Bhad Garl,” two of the songs that were used in “She Must Be Obeyed.” She is claiming that the songs were sampled without her permission or approval. Her attorney, Adewale Williams, is representing her in this case.
The defendants in the lawsuit include Tony Ugiagbe (Topage), Waje, Veeiye, Amazon Web Services Nigeria Ltd. (BoomPlay), Amazon Web Services Inc., and Apple Inc.
Ewa Cole has alleged that after Topage, the song producer, rejected her songs, Waje and Veeiye copied “Bhad Gyal” and “Opoor” without giving her credit or obtaining her permission.
“Sometime in June 2021, Our Client was contacted by one Mr Fony a.k.a Tony Age to produce soundtracks for the movie “She Must Be Obeyed” series being produced by Scene One production, Funke Akindele and her crew at that material time. The movie starred several celebrities like Veeiye (as Tito); Waje (as X-cite)}; Shaffy Belfo as Iya Siyanbola, amongst others,” the petition reads.
“Our brief revealed that after writing and recording the two songs, “Bhad Gyal” and “OPOOR” in a music studio with the aid of Mr. Tony a.k.a Tony Age (who was working with the “She Muse Be Obeyed” crew as that time), she handed over the tracks to him with the understanding that Funke Akindele and her crew will reach out to her for payments and recognition.
“After weeks of waiting, Our Client received the sad news that her songs had been rejected and would no longer be deployed in the production of the series only for Our Client to shockingly discover thereafter that she has been lied to and scammed, and that her songs were REPRODUCED by Waje and Veeiye and deployed for the production of the said movie without Our Client’s permission or approval or any credit to her. The “Bhad Gyal’ song was mimed by Waje while on stage in the movie, whilst the OPOOR song ran through the background of the entirety of the series.
“The “She Must Be Obeyed” series released in September 2023 and premiered by Amazon Prime Video is now been watched around the globe and generating several revenues for Amazon, Apple Music, BoomPlay, Funke Akindele, and her crew without even the least recognition of Our Client as the author of those songs.”
In addition, Ewa Cole demands N300 million in damages for what she claims to be labor infringement.
She requested that the defendants be barred from copyrighting, performing, or redistributing her musical compositions forever by a permanent injunction from the court.
In addition, she begged the court to grant the defendants a 45 percent cut of all earnings from the use, performance, duplication, and sale of the two songs.