Copyright lawsuits are not new in the entertainment industry; however, most lawsuits often end up in messy online scuffles which degenerate into bad blood or beef between the parties involved.
After months of controversy over allegation of copyright infringement made against Tiwa Savage by Ajibola Olumuyiwa Danladi, better known as Danny Young, both of them agreed to settle the case out of court.
The matter was taken to the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Young filed N200m copyright suit against Savage for her 2018 song, ‘One’, which he claimed she copied from his 2009 single, ‘Oju Tiwon.’
At that time, the mother of one who was formerly signed to Mavin Records, neither refuted nor commented on Young’s accusation.
But speaking with Saturday Beats, Young said he fought for what he believed in, while describing copyright infringement as a “very serious” offence internationally.
The singer also commended Tiwa Savage, who he fondly referred to as his sister, for committing in good faith towards finding an amicable resolution to the dispute.
“Before I went into it, I knew what I was getting into and I knew what I stood for. I understand the implications; I was ready for it and ready to follow it up,” Young said.
The singer, however, refused to comment on the terms reached in the agreement, stressing that he was very happy.
He said:-
“I’m sorry I’ll not be able to disclose that but we are happy with the resolution and everybody is good.
“I was the one that came to social media to talk about it, and I took it to court because I was not happy, so now I am happy because we have resolved it and we are both happy about it.
“Tiwa Savage is still my sister; no bad blood or beef. We are cool, it’s not a fight or beef, it’s just entertainment business.
“But trust me, everybody does not necessarily go to court because they want to fight. It’s is not a beef.”
“I’m in a good place with her as long as she is in a good place with me. Like I said, it’s nothing emotional from my own side. I’m just doing my music business and I believe that I am doing what is right.
“I’m doing things the way it should be done professionally. I don’t expect anyone to get emotional about it; I personally know she is happy the same way I am happy.
“Whether my accusations are right or wrong, I did what I knew was the right thing. I’m not a judge and I’m not the one to condemn anybody. All I know is that I fought for what I believed in and it was right. What I was fighting for was not for Danny Young as an artiste.
“I was fighting for something I believed was wrong and should change. It was not about Tiwa Savage, it’s about the way things are being done in the industry. I felt that for people to change their ways, you need to have a good reason to do something.
“Nobody is above mistake; anyone can do something but people realising and knowing the implications of what they do will not make them do it again. Whatever I did would have happened to anybody else.
“The most important thing is that we were able to resolve (it) and not to take it beyond that stage.”
Commenting on the backlash from people when he filed the suit, Young said, “We live in a very hypocritical generation, especially Nigeria as a whole. We have so many people that are not informed and as ignorant as they are, they still try to argue and put their ignorant information out there.
“But 95 per cent of them don’t know what they are saying; some people don’t even read what they are talking about, they just check the comment of the last person and build on that.
“Copyright infringement is a very serious offence internationally and we as players in the industry are meant to check ourselves and know how to do our thing in such a way that we don’t encourage things like that.”
According to Young’s lawyer, Justin Ige, the decision to settle out of court stemmed from the respondents (Tiwa Savage & Mavin Records) reaching out to his client and requesting that the case be settled out of court.