Vodacom Please Call Me case continues

Nkosana Makate, who recently lost a legal battle against Vodacom seeking compensation for a Please Call Me service which he claims he invented in 2000, has dragged the operator back to court.

“Mr Nkosana Makate has applied for leave to appeal against the judgement by the Gauteng High Court on the Please Call Me case,” Vodacom confirmed to BusinessTech.

“Unfortunately we cannot provide comment at this stage as the matter is sub judice,” it said.

The High Court dismissed the civil case against Vodacom with costs on 1 July 2014.

Makate, who was seeking R6.75 billion in damages, said that the dismissal of his case against Vodacom “paved the way to the Supreme Court” and he vowed he would take his court battle to the Constitutional Court.

He said that the ruling judge had recognised that a contract existed between the parties.

According to Makate, his boss at the time, Philip Geissler, promised – in an oral agreement – to facilitate remuneration negotiations with the company.

Vodacom argued that the rights to anything developed or produced by its employees belong to the company. Makete disputes this, arguing the idea fell outside of his normal duties at Vodacom.

Vodacom also said that Geissler did not have the right to promise Makete anything on behalf of Vodacom.

This article was first published on BusinessTech.

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