South African inventor wins Vodacom 'Please Call Me' battle
- 26 April 2016
Image
copyright AFP Image caption Nkosana Makate has said he believes his invention
has generated $5bn (£3bn) for Vodacom
A
South African man has won his legal bid to force leading mobile phone firm
Vodacom to pay him for inventing a popular messaging service.
The
country's highest court ordered the firm to compensate ex-employee Nkosana
Makate for the Please Call Me service.
He
waged a nine-year court battle, accusing Vodacom of breaching an agreement to
pay him.
Please
Call Me was introduced in 2001, allowing prepaid phone users to send a free
text asking to be phoned back.
"I
have no hard feelings towards Vodacom. I love the company. I worked for it
since I was 18-years-old‚" a visibly
elated Mr Makate said after the judgment, South Africa's Times Live news site reports.
"I've
been on this road for 16 years‚
nine years now in trial‚ after three
dismissals by the lower courts. It's been a long journey for me‚" he added.
The
Constitutional Court overturned a ruling of a lower court, which said that
while Please Call Me was Mr Makate's idea he could not claim payment as he only
had an oral agreement with Vodacom's director of product development, Philip
Geissler, who lacked the authority to make a deal on behalf of the firm.
Image
copyright AFP Image caption Many poor people who never had landlines use mobile
phones in South Africa
Mr
Makate has previously told local media that the invention had generated about
70bn rand ($5bn; £3bn) for Vodacom and
he wanted a 15% cut of that.
A
lawyer for Vodacom was quoted by local media as saying they were studying the
judgement.
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