Big twist in Makate vs Vodacom Please Call Me battle
Vodacom and Please Call Me idea-man Kenneth Makate will duke it out in yet another court battle after the Constitutional Court referred the ongoing matter back to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
According to the apex court, the SCA made several errors in its latest judgment to award Makate billions in compensation, which has now been set aside.
Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga said the SCA failed to allow for a free trial and ordered that the matter go back to the court for a rerun.
A differently constituted party of judges will now hear the matter.
Makate and Vodacom have been fighting over the former’s Please Call Me idea for over two decades.
Makate has been calling for fair compensation for “inventing” the Please Call Me service, which he believes should amount to almost R10 billion.
Vodacom has argued against this, saying that fair compensation for his contribution to the service would be around R50 million.
Makate has maintained that he originated the idea for a free missed-call service that would allow customers to get their contacts’ attention without using airtime.
He shared the idea with his superior at Vodacom in 2001, where he said he was promised compensation.
When this did not follow through, he launched a legal battle against Vodacom in 2008, seeking payment.
The matter escalated to the Constitutional Court, where it previously ordered Vodacom to pay Makate fairly for his idea.
Following the ruling, Vodacom increased its initial offer of compensation from R10 million to R47 million, which Makate rejected, returning to courts.
In the second round of legal battles, the High Court ruled in Makate’s favour for more compensation, which Vodacom rejected, taking Makate to the SCA.
The Supreme Court dismissed Vodacom’s appeal and then ordered the telco giant to compensate Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the revenue generated by the Please Call Me service over 18 years.
An analysis by MyBroadband revealed that this would have resulted in a payment anywhere between R29 billion and R55 billion, depending on which data was used to calculate the share.
However, Makate later claimed he only wanted R9.7 billion for the idea.
Vodacom escalated the matter again to the Constitutional Court, arguing that the SCA had erred in its findings, unquestioningly using data submitted by Makate’s team to draw its conclusions.
While many had expected resolution to the matter in today’s ruling, the protracted legal battle will now continue with another round at the SCA.
Loading ...