Serena Bata moves to wrestle her music rights back from Abitex

Lawyer Frederick Namaka from Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI) told reporters on Tuesday that petitioning URSB was one of the legal steps they decided to take, in order to free their client from Abitex.

Bata’s legal team claims her former manager Abitex “fraudulently” acquired the copyright certificate from the bureau.

“He got it by defrauding URSB. Good thing is that there is no court order so far that has come out barring her from using or performing her new music, so we have told her to continue using it, as we take the necessary steps to have the certificate canceled,” said the lawyer.

Bata signed a 3 year music contract with Abitex back in 2020, which expired in February this year.

However, in April, Abitex, through his lawyers of Lukwago and Co Advocates, issued restrictions barring all media houses from playing music the Serena Bata recorded while under his management.

Abtex warned that songs including Bikalubye, Single and It’s Okay, Ebisenge, Rukundo, Gwantama, Ofunye Omusoga, and Omulala should not be played anywhere because they belong to him.

However, Counsel Fredrick, one of 8 lawyers currently on Bata’s legal team, says despite the URSB certificate, his clients still had the right to use her music as per Paragraph 1(b) of the 2020 contract, which states “...ownership of the artist’s intellectual property shall remain with the artist and the artist can use these rights in the way that the artist chooses.”

In Abitex’s letter, he had also demanded that Bata pay him Shs 350 million within 7 days, for breach of contract.

But according to the lawyer, Promoter Abitex had no basis for suing their client because he was the first to breach the contract.

He noted for instance that as per the contract, Abitex was required to make periodic accountability reports to Bata about all proceeds earned from her music both online and in concerts, which he never did.

“Abitex was also under obligation to facilitate accommodation for the singer for three years. As far as we know, he last paid for her accommodation in March 2022,” he said.

“The contract also required Abitex to provide the artist with a company car to facilitate her transportation, but he only did that for about 6 months throughout the contract period, which is a breach of the contract.”

In this case, FHRI is working with Uganda Musicians Association where Serena Bata is a member.