Battle of the brides spills to the courts
A titanic battle of the brides is on the way as producers of the city’s two leading wedding shows clash in court.
Bailey’s Weddings with Nonny Gathoni is accusing Samantha’s Bridal TV Show of infringing their copyright.
Ms Jane Wambui Odewale, who partners with Ms Nonny Gathoni, claims that Samantha’s owner, Ms Catherine Matsitsa, unlawfully modified her programme to imitate what they were planning to introduce.
Ms Wambui says Ms Matsitsa inadvertently came upon the pilot programme and related documents for the literary work Weddings with Nonny Gathoni at a time it was scheduled to be broadcasted as Bailey’s Weddings with Nonny Gathoni then deliberately and without authorisation, replicated it for broadcasting.
Legal letter
In spite of a legal letter asking Ms Matsitsa to “cease and desist” copying the show, it continued to be aired thus causing losses to Ms Wambui and Ms Gathoni.
Ms Wambui says they spent considerable intellectual and financial resources in developing Weddings with Nonny Gathoni including engaging business partners such as East African Breweries Limited (EABL), Homeboys Entertainment and High Point Limousine Services among others.
“We have continued to invest significant amounts of time, money and expertise for purposes of developing and promoting Weddings with Nonny Gathoni called Bailey’s Weddings with Nonny Gathoni with the aim of partnering with a local and regional television broadcasting network to broadcast the work through Kenya and across the region,” explains Ms Wambui in her court papers.
However, Ms Matsitsa in her response, said she was not the owner of Samantha’s Bridal TV Show and that it was Bauhaus Ltd that produced it. She said that in her own capacity, she did not produce, reproduce or broadcast literary works covering or coordinating weddings or events.
Ms Matsitsa also denied that she came upon the pilot programme. She said the right forum to resolve the dispute was the Kenya Copyright Board, where a related matter had been raised.
She added that the Samantha’s Bridal TV Show did not carry promotions which infringed on the rights of others and further that the programme constituted works that, “have been independently created and produced by Bauhaus Ltd.”
The parties will be back in court on Monday.