Now that the 17-year-long battle between Vodacom and Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate has finally come to a close, Vodacom reportedly paid Makate about R550 million.
The mobile network announced on Thursday that the matter had been settled after nearly two decades of litigation at several courts, including the Constitutional Court.
“The Vodacom board approved a settlement agreement, and the matter was settled by the parties out of court,” the company said.
It’s unclear how much of the millions Makate will be left after 17 years of legal fees attached to the several court battles and challenges.
Vodacom profit
Vodacom flagged a smaller rise in profit after settling a long-running dispute with Makate, who had sought a payout for the Please Call Me service.
Vodacom expected a 30% to 40% increase in earnings per share for the six months through September because of the “one-off cost,” according to a statement.
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Settlement
That estimate is lower than the 40% to 45% jump it forecast in a 31 October trading statement, before the settlement was agreed.
“Vodacom will be pleased to close this long-running uncertainty, with the mid-point impact on earnings R550 million ($32 million), compared with judgments against it earlier in the legal process of tens of billions of rand,” according to a Bloomberg Intelligence senior industry analyst.
Vodacom stated that the settlement was accounted for in the group’s interim results, which are due to be released on 10 November.
The mobile operator declined to comment on the settlement amount.
Court ruling
On 8 February 2022, the Pretoria High Court ruled Makate was entitled to 5% of Vodacom’s revenue generated from his invention for the past two decades.
“The determination (R47m) by the CEO is referred back to Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub, who is obliged to make a fresh determination with the following directives: The applicant (Makate) is entitled to be paid 5% of the total voice revenue generated from the PCM product from March 2001 to March 2021,” read Judge Wendy Hughes’ judgment.
Who invented “Please Call Me”?
While Makate has been named as the inventor of the Please Call Me, the real inventor is Ari Kahn, who conceived the idea for a USSD-based “Call Me” service on 15 November 2000, a week before Makate.
In August, Stuff Magazine editor Toby Shapshak said if Makate created ‘Please Call Me’, where was his patent?
“If you invent something, you go to patent lawyers. Patent lawyers take it to the patent authority, which sees if anything else of this nature has been patented before or invented before, and they give you a patent.”
Shapshak said that Please Call Me was invented by somebody else. “History shows that the person who invented Please Call Me is Ari Khan, who briefed MTN’s lawyers, etc, etc, etc, and that is the legal actual history of this patent.”+
Khan, a former lead data consultant at MTN, filed his application with the Patent Office by Spoor & Fisher on 22 January 2001.
Kahn and MTN were granted their patent by the Patent Office on 22 January 2001, and MTN sent its first Please Call Me text the next day, on 23 January 2001.
Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde
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