Photo:Young Man Whose ‘PLEASE CALL ME’ Idea Was Stolen From Wins Case!He Will Be Paid Kshs. 67.5 Billion.

Ethan Maina
3 Min Read

Do you use Please Call Me? Well, a young man has just won a case against Vodafone for reportedly stealing the idea and making money out of it. He will be paid Kshs. 67.5 Billion.

Here is a brief timeline of the #PleaseCallMe battle as written by Times Live;

2000: Nkosana Makate was employed as a trainee accountant by Vodacom.

November 2000: Makate came up with the ā€œPlease Call Meā€ idea because his girlfriendā€š a student with whom he had a long-distance relationshipā€š could not afford to buy airtime to call him. He discussed the concept with Vodacom’s director of product developmentā€š Philip Geissler. Makate asked for 15% of the revenue generated by the service. Howeverā€š they verbally agreed that he would receive ā€œa shareā€ of the revenue if it proved to be successful.

Early 2001: Vodacom implemented the ā€œPlease Call Meā€ product and reported that about 140 000 customers made use of the service on the day it was launched.

Mid 2003: Makate left his job at Vodacom.

2008: Following unsuccessful requests to Vodacom to honour the verbal agreementā€š Makate took the cellular giant to the high court. He asked the court to order Vodacom to pay him 15% of the revenue of the ā€œPlease Call Meā€ service.

2013: Makate’s financial backersā€šthe Sterling Rand Litigation Fund that funded his court battle for a cut of any settlement that may be achievedā€š estimated that Vodacom made up to R45-billion (or Kshs. 450 Billion) from the ā€œPlease Call Meā€ service. Based on the original request for a 15% shareā€š the sum owed to Makate would be in the region of R6.75-billion (or Kshs. 67.5 Billion).

2014: The high court ruled that Makate had a valid agreement with Geissler but dismissed his claim on various groundsā€š including that his claim had prescribed because more than three years had passed. Vodacom’s former CEO Alan Knot-Craigā€š who claimed in his autobiographyā€š Second is Nothingā€š to have been the brains behind ā€œPlease Call Meā€ was forced to admit during the drawn out legal battle that the idea in fact belonged to Makate.

2015: The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Makate’s application for leave to appeal.

April 2016 : The Constitutional Court rules in favour of Makate.

 

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