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Equity Bank and Equity Foundation have been ordered to pay Sh5.2 million to a 25-year-old artiste for breaching his property rights by promoting their ‘Wings to Fly’  programme using his song without consent.

Justice Wilfrida Okwany ordered the bank and the foundation to pay the said monies to Eric Obiero Nyadida and barred them from using his work of music, ‘Wings to Fly’.

“I find the petitioner proved, on a balance of probabilities, that the first and second respondents( the bank and foundation) used and have been using the music that he created without his consent and without paying him for it thus breaching his intellectual property rights,” ruled the Judge.

In the Sh5,250,000, the judge awarded  damages of Sh250,000 to the Nyadida against all the respondents who included  the bank, the foundation, Director of Public Prosecution, the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General for malicious prosecution.

Nyadida sued the bank, the DPP and the IG for using his music to promote its Wings to Fly scholarship programme without pay and malicious prosecution.

His case was that sometime in May 2013, while he was 16-years-old he approached the Bank with a proposal to publicize its education programme dubbed “Wings to Fly” after which he agreed to compose an original musical piece to be used to advertise the programme.

He presented his musical piece, “Wings to Fly” to the bank who agreed to purchase it for the sum of Sh10,000,000. However the bank later reneged on its promise to buy the music and instead caused his brother and himself arrest and prosecution with the offence of Forgery which they were later acquitted.

He faulted the DPP and the IG for unlawful arrest, malicious prosecution and for violating his rights under Section 73 of Children’s Act which provides that, being a minor,he  could only be charged before a Children’s Court.