KAMPALA, UGANDA — Ugandan musician Bruno Kiggundu, widely known as Bruno K, has secured a significant legal victory, with the High Court awarding him UGX 130 million (approximately $35,230 USD) in damages after he successfully sued an American music company for copyright infringement.
Justice Patricia Mutesi, presiding over the commercial division of the High Court, ruled that Black Market Media, a US-based music promotion company that also established operations in Uganda in 2020, unfairly profited from Bruno K’s original musical compositions.
In her ruling, Justice Mutesi stated: “I’m satisfied that the plaintiff’s copyright was infringed when his songs were struck down from YouTube, when his YouTube channels were taken down, when false claims of copyright infringement were made against him and when his songs were distributed without his consent and benefit…It is my considered finding that the 4th defendant infringed on the plaintiff’s copyright and unlawfully exploited the plaintiff’s songs. It did this by making false copyright infringement complaints against him and by distributing his songs to its profit without the plaintiff’s consent and without remitting royalties due to the plaintiff to him.”
As a legal remedy, the court awarded Bruno K Shs 100 million in general damages and an additional UGX 30 million in aggravated damages. Court records indicate that Bruno K had entered into an agreement with Black Market Records LLC, wherein he would compose songs for promotion, with both parties sharing royalties.
Bruno K testified that shortly after the agreement was signed, Black Market Records became uncommunicative and failed to uphold their end of the deal. This ultimately led him to terminate the agreement upon its expiry after only one collaborative song was produced.
Following the cancellation, Bruno K continued to create and upload his music to his own YouTube channel for promotion. To his dismay, Black Market Records filed complaints with YouTube, falsely claiming copyright infringement based on the expired contract. They asserted legal ownership of his songs due to the initial agreement.
Consequently, YouTube suspended Bruno K’s channels due to repeated copyright infringement claims. It was only after Bruno K discovered that Black Market Records was not a legally registered company in the United States, having been struck off the register in California in March 2013 and therefore incapable of entering into any valid legal contracts, that YouTube was able to reinstate his two channels: Bruno K and Real Dance Crew.
