Kenneth Makate scores massive victory against Vodacom at Supreme Court

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Please Call Me idea-man scores massive victory against Vodacom

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in South Africa has dismissed an appeal by Vodacom and ruled in favour of Please Call Me idea-man Kenneth Nkosana Makate.

It ruled that Vodacom must pay Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the total voice revenue its Please Call Me product generated over 18 years, plus interest.
 
Eina, how one man can break a bohemoth.

Sinbad said:
He's going to get R7.45
The rest is going to his lawyers.
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Why the 45c?

backstreetboy said:
Can MTN sue Kenneth Makate?
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MTN can't sue anybody as please call me is not a South African invention. I also wish Mybb would stop with this poor journalism of crediting them with it as they don't even have the patent and didn't decide on this implementation until talks about it was already doing the rounds.

Johand said:
This is nuts. There is no way that billions is a rational number for "pitching an idea".

Though maybe Vodacom is getting punished for all the people they DID screw over.
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Why though? If an idea generates billions then billions is a fair number.
 
I was kinda under the impression that any idea you come up with for your work, that idea if turned into something, you do not own it nor are you entitled to any royalties thereof?

Anyone able to explain how this works?
 
According to the Sunday Times it's not that he's owed 5% of the revenue, but that a new offer must be made and inflation of 5% must be factored in.

“The award made by the second respondent shall take into account the time value of money, calculated at an average inflation rate of 5%, from 1 March 2001 to 28 February 2019. The first respondent shall finalise his determination within 30 calendar days of the date of this order,” stated Scheepers."
 
Death said:
I was kinda under the impression that any idea you come up with for your work, that idea if turned into something, you do not own it nor are you entitled to any royalties thereof?

Anyone able to explain how this works?
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This is how it normally works. How Vodacom didn't just point to his contract, say the manager was wrong and then moved on, I have no idea.
 
Swa said:
MTN can't sue anybody as please call me is not a South African invention. I also wish Mybb would stop with this poor journalism of crediting them with it as they don't even have the patent and didn't decide on this implementation until talks about it was already doing the rounds.
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mybroadband.co.za

Vodacom admits MTN invented the Please Call Me

Vodacom has admitted that MTN invented the Please Call Me long before it came up with the idea.
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za
Vodacom has admitted that Please Call Me was invented and subsequently patented by MTN

  • A week earlier on 15 November 2000, Kahn had already conceived the idea and briefed patent attorneys on 16 November to prepare a patent application for filing.
  • Not only did Kahn conceive the idea first, he reduced it to practice first and sought IP protection first – filing a patent disclosing all the steps and methods required to deliver a working solution.
  • MTN filed for IP protection first and it launched the service first on 23 January 2001 – seven weeks before Vodacom.
  • The MTN service worked, and millions of users sent “Call me” messages over the MTN network during the first few weeks – which establishes prior art as Vodacom had yet to publicly disclose and launch their service.
  • Vodacom launches a similar service on 15 March 2001. The service is a carbon copy of the MTN service and is even identically named “Call me” – it was later changed to “Please Call Me”.
  • MTN immediately notifies Vodacom that they are infringing on their patent.
  • Vodacom informs Makate that MTN already have the service and are threatening legal action for infringement.
 
Swa said:
Eina, how one man can break a bohemoth.


Why the 45c?


MTN can't sue anybody as please call me is not a South African invention. I also wish Mybb would stop with this poor journalism of crediting them with it as they don't even have the patent and didn't decide on this implementation until talks about it was already doing the rounds.


Why though? If an idea generates billions then billions is a fair number.
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Lol to each their own. The missed call trick worked great for me back then anyway.
 
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