Wangechi Waweru Mwende v Tecno Mobile Limited; Rogers Ouma t/a Ojwok Photograpy (Third Party) [2020] eKLR REPUBLIC OF KENYA IN THE HIGH COURT OF KENYA AT NAIROBI MILIMANI COMMERCIAL AND TAX DIVISION CIVIL SUIT NO. 494 OF 2016 WANGECHI WAWERU MWENDE...................................................PLAINTIFF -VERSUSTECNO MOBILE LIMITED.............................................................DEFENDANT ROGERS OUMA T/A OJWOK PHOTOGRAPY...............................3RD PARTY JUDGMENT BACKGROUND The Plaintiff (herein “Wangechi Waweru Mwende”) vide a Plaint dated 30th November 2016, instituted a suit against the Defendant (herein “Tecno Mobile Limited”) claiming that the Defendant used the Plaintiff’s image and likeliness without the Plaintiff’s consent. The Plaintiff is a renowned singer, songwriter and a rapper in the Kenya music industry and popular among the upwardly mobile Kenyan youth and young adults. The Plaintiff endorsed various campaigns and brands for different corporate entities. The Plaintiff averred that in early July 2016 the Defendant commenced a social media campaign intended to celebrate the beauty and diversity of Kenya through a marketing strategy dubbed the see9seekenya and specifically under the hashtag #see9seekenya. The online promotion was active between the 7th to 20th July 2016. That the Defendant in a bid to popularize the campaign used the Plaintiff’s image and likeness in the form of images and audiovisual work on social media platforms including and not limited to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to advertise and endorse their campaign. That the Defendant without any authority intentionally used the Plaintiff’s image and likeness in a promotional campaign and for advertising purposes for commercial benefit thus violating the Plaintiff’s Constitutional right to privacy enshrined in Article 31 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and by extension her person’s rights. The Plaintiff further averred that she neither consented to the use of her image nor submitted any of her photographs to the Defendant to be used in the campaign. As a direct and consequential result of the unauthorized use of her image the Plaintiff’s legitimate expectation of the Constitutional right to privacy had been breached by the Defendant. LEGAL FOUNDATION OF THE CLAIM http://www.kenyalaw.org - Page 1/14