More Details Revealed | Nomcebo Zikode’s Lawsuit Against Open Mic Productions Over Grammy-Nominated Song
It continues to pour for Nomcebo Zikode after Open Mic removed her Grammy-nominated single Bayethe from all digital streaming platforms.
Zikode has yet again taken her former record label to court for taking down her song Bayethe with Zakes Bantwini, and Wouter Kellerman off Spotify.
Open Mic took the song down on the same day it was announced that it had achieved the spectacular feat of being nominated for a Grammy award.
Through its lawyers, Open Mic wrote to Spotify and requested that Bayethe be taken down because it infringes on its intellectual property. However, Nomcebo denies that Open Mic holds copyright or other intellectual property rights on the song.
Nomcebo Zikode (Image Credit: Instagram/Nomcebo Zikode)
In documents filed by Nomcebo at the High Court, she says the request by Open Mic to have the song taken down is unlawful. She said:
the take-down notice and the conduct of the respondent as set out below constitute: an injurious falsehood, an unlawful and intentional interference with my and the second applicant’s contractual and/or property rights and unlawful competition.
Nomcebo says the request by Open Mic to have the song taken down from Spotify and other platforms she is unaware of may cost her a Grammy award.
“The extent of which will be difficult, if not impossible to quantify. Furthermore, I have a reasonable apprehension that the take-down request, along with other take-down requests of which I am unaware, or which the respondent may still issue, may have a bearing on the Grammy for which I have been nominated,” she said.
She wants the High Court to order Open Mic to advise Spotify to reinstate the song “within 24 hours of the interim relief being granted”.
Meanwhile, Nomcebo and Open Mic are engaged in another fierce court battle over unpaid royalties of the international hit, Jerusalema, with Master KG.
