MOBILE telecommunications company MTC intends to oppose a lawsuit in which the company is accused of hijacking a Keetmanshoop man’s idea that cellphone users should be able to buy prepaid phone service and data packages lasting longer than only seven days at a time.
MTC spokesperson Tim Ekandjo says the company has taken note of allegations made by Keetmans-hoop resident Willem Eiman and intends to oppose the legal action he is taking.
In a lawsuit filed in the Windhoek High Court, Eiman is claiming MTC has implemented his idea that cellphone users should be given an option to buy multiple-week prepaid phone service and data packages, in violation of his intellectual property rights and without compensating him.
Ekandjo says MTC is aware of the same claims Eiman has made previously, and “which we addressed with him by showing him that the idea like all other ideas was internally developed by our creative geniuses”.
“We do, however, respect his decision to challenge us in court and we will gladly prove to the court that he had nothing to do with that product,” Ekandjo says.
Eiman is claiming that a “multiple Aweh product solution” launched by MTC in May 2020 was based on a proposal he had made to the company in April 2017, when he suggested that MTC should adapt its Aweh prepaid services to allow customers to purchase Aweh products running for more than seven days.
MTC’s multiple Aweh product offering gives customers the option to subscribe to multiple Aweh packages simultaneously.
Eiman wants the court to order the appointment of a chartered accountant to investigate and calculate the revenue MTC has generated since 25 January 2021 on account of his idea about prepaid phone and data packages.
He is also asking the court to order the company to pay him 15% of the income it has generated through the alleged use of his idea, and 15% of all future income generated from the alleged use of his concept.
