Why Nigerian artist might sue Imaara Mall

A Nigerian artist based in the United States has threatened to sue the management of the newly- launched Imaara Mall for allegedly copying and using his work without his consent.

The mall officially started operations on Nairobi’s Mombasa Road barely a fortnight ago.

Temi Ololuwa Coker, a 29-year-old photographer and designer, took to his social media account to share his frustrations when he saw some of his work painted on the mall, saying it was the second case of copyright infringement he had witnessed in three weeks.

“Soooooo (sic) this mall called the ‘Imaara Mall’ in Nairobi copied my work verbatim and put it on their mall. They straight up copied my style and are now using it for profit,” Temi tweeted.

“My agency will be looking into this with their lawyers but honestly I don’t know if there is anything that can be done. Maybe a cease and desist? It's hard having IP on all the work I do. I create too often for that to even be a thing. This is wild but I guess,” he shared his thoughts on the global micro-blogging platform.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday, March 1, Temi acknowledged that he did not mind artists who were inspired by his work and opted to borrow a concept from his style.

“I don't mind people being inspired but at least try and make it your own. Don't go outright copy an artist style,” he said.

The 29-year-old creative disclosed that he started his style of art in 2019, shortly after he left Adobe where he worked as a creative resident between 2018 and 2019.

“I started this style in 2019. I've gone through their page and they don't mention the designer. I wonder why,” Temi added.

When putting his frustrations to the world, shared a link to both works which are similar in design and appearance for the viewers of his post to draw their conclusion.

“The placements of their shapes show they literally copied and pasted my work lol sad,” he said sarcastically.

Moreover, Kenyans who interacted with his tweet asked him to go after the artist who was contracted to do the work on the establishment and he replied, “I didn't see a name. I have contacted the building and organiser and haven't heard back. It's not my fault the client hired an artist that copies others. They should've done their job. There no need for explanation here, they just need to own up to it and take it down,”

The Standard wrote to Temi on social media for an interview and at the time of publishing this article, the creative had not responded.

However, the management of Imaara Mall has not addressed the issue yet.

Efforts by The Standard to get a response from the enterprise were futile as the number on their Facebook page was 'out of service'.

Temi is a graphic designer-cum-photographer based in Dallas, Texas.

He was one of the seven Adobe Creative Residents for 2018/2019 and is widely known for his creative approach in photography and design.

His goal is to help brands tell and share their stories through different digital mediums.

Temi was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria to a Yoruba father and an Igara mother. He is also the co-founder of Coker Studio, a multidisciplinary creative studio.

In an undated press release shared on KECOBO’s website on Wednesday, March 2, copyright board boss Edwin Sigei warned against the use of other people’s pictures and videos without properly crediting them.

“Take note that the widely used term 'courtesy' e.g., 'photo courtesy' is NOT an acknowledgement,” Sigei said.