NATIONAL NEWS - As the Please Call Me inventor, Nkosana Makate, continues to pursue a battle for compensation, he faces another hurdle: a legal bill of nearly R13 million for one day’s arguments in the Constitutional Court.
Makate, a former trainee accountant at Vodacom, was dealt a blow in August after the apex ruled in favour of Vodacom, with costs and sending the legal battle with the Please Call Me inventor back to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
The judgment related to Vodacom’s application for leave to appeal against a February 2024 SCA ruling. Vodacom costs
Makate said that while he accepted the apex court ruling overturning his victory in the SCA, he disagreed with the costs order and intends to fight it, according to IOL.
The inventor of Please Call Me questioned why he was slapped with a costs order.
“I do not agree with the awarding of costs in favour of Vodacom. During the same Constitutional Court process, I had to defend two Amicus Curiae applications – one from Vodafone and another from Yebo Yethu. These are shareholders of Vodacom. The Constitutional Court dismissed both, but did not award me costs,” he told the publication.
ConCourt battle
The appeal, heard by the ConCourt last November, challenged the SCA’s decision to overturn Vodacom’s offer of R47 million in compensation to Makate, who developed the Please Call Me service that allows network users to send free callback messages.
In its ruling, the SCA ordered Vodacom to pay Makate between 5% and 7.5% of the total revenue generated by the service since its launch in 2001, plus interest.
Billions
While the minority judgment of the SCA estimated the compensation to be around R186 million, the majority opinion placed Makate’s potential payout between R29 billion and R63 billion.
Despite this, Makate’s legal representative told the ConCourt that his client is willing to settle for R9.4 billion.
Vodacom applied to the Constitutional Court to appeal the SCA’s order, arguing that the judges concurring with the majority ruling had failed to consider critical evidence, denying its right to a fair trial.
Ruling
Outgoing Acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga delivered his final judgment from the bench in favour of Vodacom, describing the nearly two-decade legal saga as “an unending litigation”.
Madlanga highlighted that a 2016 ConCourt ruling had previously led Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub to calculate R47 million following unsuccessful negotiations between the telecommunications company and Makate.
The judge noted Vodacom’s argument that the SCA had gone beyond its jurisdiction by replacing the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria’s order with its own, despite the absence of a cross-appeal from Makate.
Costs order
Madlanga’s ruling ordered that a costs order must follow the ConCourt’s decision.
“Vodacom asked for the costs of three counsel. Having regard to the size of the record, the complexity and novelty of the issues and the very large amount at stake, I think that is a fair and just request.”
Madlanga noted that Makate himself saw the need to take the precaution of having three counsel appear before the apex court.
“His written argument was settled by six counsel, three of whom were silks. So, the costs of three counsel will be awarded.”
Please Call Me
Makate came up with the idea for the Please Call Me service in 2000 while working as a trainee accountant at Vodacom. However, he had to go to court to be officially recognised as the inventor after former Vodacom chief executive Alan Knott-Craig claimed the credit in his 2009 autobiography, Second is Nothing.
He launched a protracted legal battle against Vodacom in 2008, seeking compensation for his idea.
In August, Stuff Magazine publisher Toby Shapshak said if Makate created ‘Please Call Me’, where is his patent?
Article: Caxton publication, The Citizen
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