Nollywood actress, Stephanie Okereke, has been slammed a N100m (about $318,000) lawsuit by an author – Daniella Madudu – for alleged copyright infringement of her book titled: “Behind Her Veil.”
Madudu claims that major parts of her book were lifted and used without any form of acknowledgement to her in Stephanie Okereke’s movie – “Dry”
According to the author, she gave the manuscripts of the book to one of her friends, Joy Ndidi, who later became Stephanie’s Personal Assistant, to edit; only for her to see major excerpts of her book revealed in Stephanie Okereke Linus’ movie, Dry.
But the actress in a statement maintained that her movie had been registered with the National Copyright Commission since 2012, while the book was officially published in 2014.
The actress also stated that the said book has never been registered with the NCC till date.
She further said that her movie ‘DRY ‘was shot in a bid to lend her voice
to the child not bride campaign.
However, the actress admitted receiving a letter from one Rafiu Bello acting on behalf of Daniella Madudu on May 19, accusing her of appropriation of an ‘original literary work’ that was allegedly stolen from her by Joy Ndidi.
Okereke Linus said that among many other things, the letter demanded that she credits Madudu with ownership of her work, pay the sum of N60,000,000 (about $190,000) and royalties, or face a ‘campaign of calumny.’
