ACE MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTOR,CLARENCE PETERS MET IS WATERLOO-IN TROUBLE OVER N1.6M MUSICAL VIDEO

Two brothers,Uwana and Akan Victor,have sued Clarence Peters,son of Juju maestro,Sir Shina Peters,at a Federal High Court,Ikeja Lagos,for allegedly pirating a video he directed and produced for them in 2008.

The Victors,both Lagos based musicians,are seeking N40m as compensation and general damages from Clarence,a musical video director and producer,for allegedly using the clips and extracts from the said video without their authority or consent.

The brothers claimed that Clarence “manipulated and pirated” the said video,titled,”Make Money Flow” into “Waconzy's 'I Celebrate,” despite paying him for the services he rendered to them.

In their statement of claim filed by their lawyer,Mr.Yemi Omodele,the plaintiffs said they paid Clarence the sum of N900,000 for the shooting of “Make Money Flow”,and a separate sum of N650,000 for logistics and other expenses incurred in the process.

The plaintiffs claimed there was no written agreement for the transaction between them and Clarence because of the working relationship they had had with him.

They said,on February 27,2011 at about 4.30pm while watching Hitv cable station,they saw a video titled,I Celebrate” video being played on air.They added that they later discovered that the “I Celebrate” video contained substantial part of their”Make Money Flow”.

However,Clarence,in his statement of defence,said the plaintiffs only paid him N800,000 in two instalments-N650,000 and N150,000.

Clarence,whose recording studio is Capital Dreams Pictures,Lagos,admitted producing “I Celebrate” but said it did not infringe on the copyrights attached to the “Make Money Flow”.

He maintained that the copyright to the production of the video belonged to him.Clarence said he had an agreement with the plaintiffs to retain the creative and authorship right,when they pleaded to pay him the sum of N800,000 for the production instead of N1.6m he initially charged them.

Justice Steven Adah has adjourned the matter until December 1 for trial.