By Our Correspondent
The legal battle surrounding the authorship and ownership of the globally acclaimed gospel song, ‘Way Maker’ has finally been resolved in favour of Nigeria’s renowned gospel artiste, Mrs. Osinachi Joseph Egbu, whose stage name is Sinach.
A Federal High Court in Lagos, presided by Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa, affirmed that Sinach remains the sole author and copyright owner of the popular gospel hit song that ruled the airwaves in Nigeria and beyond.
The song, which was a huge success, has won local and international awards that apparently sparked the authorship and ownership dispute.
Michael Oluwole, who produced the song for Sinach had on March 8, 2024, filed a suit against the gospel artiste asking the court to make declarations recognising his co-authorship and co-ownership of the song.
In the Suit No. FHC/L/CS/402/2024, filed by his counsel, Matthew Enilobo, the plaintiff claimed to be a co-author and co-owner of the song, and that he was entitled to “equitable sharing of all fees from licences and assignments” from it.
He alleged that the plaintiff had been infringing on his performer’s rights as he was the performer of the accompanying and underlying musical instruments in the sound recording. The producer asked the court to award him N5 billion in general damages against the defendant.
Among other reliefs, the plaintiff urged the court to issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from reproducing, distributing, publicly performing or causing others to reproduce, distribute, or publicly perform sound recordings of the defendant’s performances in Way Maker.
But in the certified true copy of the judgement delivered on July 24, 2026, sighted by THISDAY, Justice Lewis-Allagoa held that the plaintiff failed to prove co-authorship or co-ownership of the musical work, which is the pillar of all his claims.
He, therefore, dismissed the suit entirely, describing it as “gold-digging and unmeritorious”.
The court found that the song ‘Way Maker’ was originally created and performed by the defendant, recognising her prior performance of the song in South Africa. It further held that both the creation and performance of the song had taken place before the plaintiff was engaged to mix and master the already existing work for commercial album release in 2015.
“The evidence also shows that the part played by the plaintiff was that he was contracted to produce the song into a musical work for a fee which he was paid,” the court said.
According to the court, the plaintiff, having been contracted and paid for his technical services under an oral agreement, could not turn round to claim co-authorship and co-ownership of the song he had made no original input.
It emphasised that authorship under copyright law “vests in the natural person who creates the original expressive content” -melody, harmony, lyrics or arrangement.
“Given the state of evidence, the plaintiff cannot successfully claim to be the creator of the song, Way Maker. The author of the said song is surely the defendant (Sinach), who had performed the song internationally and won awards.
“Authorship vests ownership of the copyright in that person from the moment of creation, without registration or formal notice required.
“The author holds exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute, perform and license the work,” the court stated, citing provisions in the Copyright Act (now the Copyright Rights & Related Management Act).
Puncturing the plaintiff’s claim to co-authorship and co-ownership of the song, the court held that “not every person involved in creating a recording is an author.”
“A producer, engineer or session musician or sound technician may contribute materially to the finished product but does not become an author unless they created the original expressive content,” the court stated.
“The author must be the original creative mind,” it added.
The court agreed with the defendant’s legal team led by Emeka Etiaba, SAN, who averred that the plaintiff’s own evidence and admissions under examination confirmed that the defendant brought an existing song which he then developed into a recorded musical work for a fee.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Slic Inspire Ltd. and Gosgem Records (companies that manage Sinach), Joseph Egbu, have together with Sinach, reacted with happiness over the resolution of the legal dispute.
They also expressed profound gratitude to the legal team comprising Emeka Etiaba, SAN, Omolola Aderolu and O.G. Ofomata “for their diligent and professional representation that secured this favourable outcome.”
