A transport firm, You & I Global Limited, has threatened to sue the Lagos State Government and its agency, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, over alleged theft and copyright infringement of a traffic management solution.
The Managing Director- Ismail Muhammed, said the recent initiative launched by the LASTMA to prevent traffic gridlock in the state was the same as the one his firm presented to the traffic management agency in 2017.
Muhammed accused LASTMA and the Lagos State Government of copyright infringement and stealing his trade secret tagged ‘LAGTRAFFY’ system.
He stated that in 2017, You & I submitted a proposal and was invited by the Lagos State Safety Commission where it made a presentation, adding that on March 13, upon invitation, he made another presentation to LASTMA at its Oshodi head office with several top officials in attendance.
He however stated that one of the directors at LASTMA was equally present during the presentation as the official in charge of implementing the traffic management system.
Muhammed said, “He requested for the softcopy of the LAGTRAFFY presentation to ensure the correct recommendation and quick implementation.
“However, after the transmission of the softcopy, he and other LASTMA officials became incommunicado and in fact, access into LASTMA office was refused.
“Several visits to the Lagos Safety Commission and Ministry of Transportation yielded no results as they referred the company to LASTMA.
“On December 10, 2019, LASTMA launched the ‘Traffic Management Solutions’ which You & I Global insists has canny similarities with its LAGTRAFFY System.”
He stated that on December 23, 2019, the company through its legal counsel wrote a ‘cease and desist’ letter to the Lagos State Governor, LASTMA and Ministry of Transportation.
In a copy of the letter, the firm said through its lawyer, Ibrahim Muhammed, that in view of the similarities and absence of distinctiveness between the ‘The Traffic Management Solutions System’ and ‘LAGTRAFFY’ management platform, LASTMA had “meted out a deliberate and remorseless act of infringement of copyright and trade secret.”
The firm demanded that the agency should desist from the release of the infringing “Traffic Management Solutions System” and offer a letter of apology for the economic distress caused by the act.
The firm threatened that failure to accede to the demands on or before Thursday, January 14, 2020, would result in a lawsuit.
“I shall on or after Wednesday, 15th January 2019 be constrained to take out a writ of summons against you in the appropriate court to seek remedy for my client.
“I shall also follow that with other legal means to ensure you do not repeat such acts of theft of trade secret and copyright infringement in the future,” the letter read in part.
The LASTMA’s spokesperson, Olumide Filade, told a Punch correspondent that the agency had no power to take final decisions on such matters.
“LASTMA is an agency and can only take such matters to the state government for ratification,” he said.
