KAMPALA: Uganda Cranes captain and Mamelodi Sundowns Goalkeeper, Denis Masinde Onyango has taken two betting companies, Melbet and Paragon Bet to court over ‘unauthorised use’ of his image without his consent.
Through his lawyers led by Muwema and Company Advocates and Solicitors, Onyango says Melbet and Paragon Bet used his images without his consent his images to promote their products during the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign.
Onyango claims that he came across several social media advertisements by the two companies promoting their products for The Uganda Cranes games against Burkina Faso and Malawi. The said adverts are understood to have bore his image yet he is affiliated to a competitor company.
“Our Client’s attention was recently drawn to advertisements carried by both Paragon Bet and Melbet on their social media handles to promote their products for Uganda Cranes games against Burkina Faso and Malawi which bore his images,” reads part of the letter that was written to the betting companies.
“The unauthorized use of our client’s image is a deliberate violation of his image rights for which we shall hold you liable, given the fact that our client is signed up as an ambassador to another entity in the same business,” the letter further reads.
In the letter that was served to the Lotteries and Gaming Board, Onyango’s lawyers advise that the two companies desist from any future usage of their client’s image and also demand a sum of UGX 50M (Fifty Million Shillings) each as compensation for violation of his image rights.
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to demand that you desist from any future usage of our client’s image to promote your products and to further demand that you pay our client ugx. 50,000,000 (Uganda shillings fifty million only) as compensation for violation of his image rights.”
Onyango is an ambassador for GAL Sports Bet, a rival company to both Melbet and Paragon bet, hence the breach of image rights.
Muwema and Company Advocates and Solicitors also requests that the Uganda National Gaming and Lotteries Regulatory Authority reprimands the conduct of Melbet and Paragon Bet for the violation of image rights.
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