Funke Akindele And Ex-husband JJC Skillz Faces #300 Million Lawsuit For Copyright Infringement

Funke Akindele and Ex-husband JJC Skillz faces #300 Million lawsuit for copyright infringement by Nigerian singer, Ewa Cole. 

Ewa Cole has filed a lawsuit against music executive JJC Skillz and his ex-wife, Funke Akindele for copyright infringement of her songs in the movie “She Must Be Obeyed.”

“She Must Be Obeyed” which was produced by SceneOne Entertainment was co-directed by Funke Akindele and her ex-husband JJC Skillz with cast from legendary Nollywood actors like Nancy Isime, Abdulateef Adedimeji, Akah Nnani, Veeiye, Waje, Patience Ozokwo, Rachael Okonkwo, and Mike Ezuronye.

In a case submitted to the Federal High Court of Lagos, Ewa Cole through her attorney Adewale Williams said ;

“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 Bello as Iya Siyanbola, amongst others”.

“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 Must 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.”

Also, Ewa Cole is demanding N300 million in damages for what she claims to be labor infringement, the defendants be barred from copyrighting, performing, or redistributing her musical compositions forever by a permanent injunction from the court and she is requesting that the court should grant the defendants a 45 percent cut of all earnings from the use, performance, duplication, and sale of the two songs.