SAN FRANCISCO, January 12, (THEWILL) – Media mogul and Ebonylife CEO, Mo Abudu, has reacted to accusations of copyright infringement by a journalist, Tobore Ovourie, over the movie, ‘Oloture’.
THEWILL writes that Tobore Ovuorie had accused Mo Abudu and the film’s producers of using her 2014 investigative report without her permission.
Reacting to this development, Abudu took to her Instagram account, saying Premium Times had paid for the movie and also given Tobore five per cent out of cinema money for her contribution as a writer.
Abudu said: “Premium Times said she cannot lay claim to the project, only Sam Chronicles can claim copyright to the report, we do not take kindly to those saying otherwise.
“We dare not make a film without addressing rights and paying for them.
“In May 2019, we reached out to Tobore and granted her a private screening and offered her 5% of our cinema rights to go to her NGO. ‘Oloture’ was an important movie but due to COVID-19, we could not release it.
“A day after Oloture was released on Netflix in October 2020, Tobore sent us a message and made accusations making demands and threatening us.”
Mo Abudu further disclosed that before the release of the movie, she had a cordial relationship with Tobore and she sent her some money during the death of her father. She disclosed that the relationship changed after Oloture was released.
According to Abudu, Tobore hired a lawyer and demanded for payment of N2.5bn which has lingered till now.
She said: “A month after Oloture was launched, we got a letter from her lawyer demanding a whooping sum of N2.5bn which is not what we signed up for.
“We knew we did not infringe on her rights, we settled all that before the movie. Her demands have become threatening, blackmailing.
“My relationship with Tobore immediately changed after the growing popularity of Oloture on Netflix.
“Let me state for the record: ‘Oloture’ is a story inspired by true events involving situations created by script writers , several parts of the films were created. However, some parts were similar to Tobore’s life which is why she and Premium Times were given credits.”
The media mogul enjoined the public to be properly informed on how the movie industry works before being judgmental.
“Tobore’s experience is what most ladies experience due to trafficking worldwide. I stand for integrity, we did not exploit Tobore and would not be intimidated but fight in court if necessary,” she concluded.
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