Sabinus sues peak milk & Gala for using his picture

Chukwuemeka Emmanuel, a well-known Nigerian comedian, skit maker and content creator, known popularly as Oga Sabinus or Mr Funny, has threatened to sue popular brand, peak milk, over the alleged usage of his trademarked phrase, “Something hooge”, without following proper procedures.

The comedian also threatened to take legal action against UAC Food Ltd, producers of gala sausage, for using his brand picture and other intellectual products to make adverts and promotions for the product.

In a pre-suit notice dated 27th May 2022 which was signed by his lead counsel, Mr Stanley Alieke, Sabinus demanded for the payment of N500m from Peak Milk, for the alleged unauthorized use of his cognitive property and N500m to compensate him for damages caused by the “emotional, physical, psychological and mental trauma our client has suffered for the trademark theft and the infringement of his intellectual rights property”.

In an advance litigation notice to UAC Foods Ltd dated 25th May 2022, Sabinus also demanded that N100m be paid to him “for the use of his picture which is the average fee our client charges for his picture to be used for adverts and promotions”.

According to the comedian, Friesland Food Wamco Nigerian PLC, a company owned by Peak Milk, used his trademarked slogan “Something Hooge” for the advert and promotion of their product, Peak Milk made on the company’s Nigeria verified Instagram page (peak_milk) on the 24th of May 2022.

He further stated that the said slogan was trademarked on 26th November 2021 with the FILE NINIBER: NG/TM/O/2021/48316.

The comedian also revealed that UAC Food made a post on its verified Instagram handle (galasausage_roll) on 23rd May 2022 with his “picture”. He disclosed that the post which was his animated picture was captioned, “the way I calculate everything in my life”.

“The post gathered massive traffic, and engagements and attracted huge followership to your page which only happened because the picture of our client was used for the promotion and advert,” the pre-litigation notice read.

Sabinus, who was recently recognized by the Africa Movies Viewers’ Choice Award (AMVCA) as the Best Online Content Creator of the year 2022, gave both companies 14 working days to meet his demands or be dragged to court.