IPR Update 3: NOKIA's Reply to my Legal Notice and my Lawyers Re-Axe
April 20, 2010
Orr, Dignam & Co.
Advocates & Barristers
Shajan Tower-2 (1st Floor)
Office No. 101-104
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Re: Your reply under Reference No. H/(2010)/66 dated 12th April, 2010 to my Legal Notice dated 01.04.2010 and letter dated 06.04.2010 sent on behalf of my client Mr. Maqsoodul Haque.
Dear Sirs,
I am in receipt of your reply as mentioned above. I have received instruction from my client to reply to the same in the following manner.
1. That in your reply you have referred to a meeting dated 31st March, 2010 held in Asiatic Office in Dhaka. My client has instructed me to inform you that whilst he did meet with Asiatic JWT upon the telephonic request of its Managing Director Mr.Aly Zaker as also Mr.Foad Nasser Babu of Feedback on the 31st March 2010 and spent over 2 hours patiently hearing out both parties, regrettably nothing as such was ‘agreed’ upon or ‘resolved’ in the said meeting.
The meeting ended inconclusively and while the list of song that will not be used for the campaign was discussed, Asiatic was vehemently reluctant to hand over a letter of affirmation of the same and kept debating meaninglessly whether it should be addressed to my client by them (Asiatic) or by Feedback.
When my client insisted that the letter ought to come from Asiatic being the brand custodian of Nokia and the guilty party on its own admission during the meeting for not looking at the legal aspects before concluding a commercial contract with Feedback – one Mr.Neville Ferdous Hasan of Asiatic who presided the meeting in presence of Ms. Zertab Quaderi in an implied threat told my client “What if we sent you a letter and went ahead and did exactly what we want to do?” and subsequently this actually proved to be the case as would be revealed later.
My client left the meeting after his final recap for clarity, stating in no uncertain terms that he expected a letter from Asiatic by noon of 1st April 2010, and an immediate stoppage of the campaign. The letter having not reached my client until the stipulated time; I was instructed to send out the legal notice without any further delay.
2.That we appreciate the fact that your Client’s office was closed from 2nd April, 2010 to 4th April, 2010, and we also admit the receipt of the e-mail sent by Ms. Quaderi informing us of the stoppage of public promotion and activities and communication in the media of that particular campaign. But as you surely have seen from my letter dated 06.04.2010 that even though this was assured no steps whatsoever was taken by Asiatic to that effect.
We have seen no press statement by either you or your client about the suspension of the campaign in the press nor did the website was taken down. And moreover till today I, personally have seen huge billboards promoting the said campaign in prominent parts of Dhaka City (including Mohakhali and Dhanmondi) coupled with the fact of another e-mail, sent by Mr. Aly Zaker, the Managing Director of Asiatic JWT (your client’s agent), which I mentioned in my said letter dated 06.04.2010, proves that the implied threat made by Mr. Hasan was no longer implied, rather your clients agents have gone through what they have intended, i.e. To cut my client down to size. We are still waiting for explanation of such slanderous and libelous remarks.
3. In the circumstances as stated above, I am instructed to inform you that, the steps taken by your client or its agent to address the situation is not satisfactory to my client. The controversy that has arisen over the matter was created by your client’s agent and I request you to take effective steps to settle the matter amicably.
A copy of this reply is kept in my chambers for future reference.
Thanking you.
Yours faithfully,
(Aneek. R. Haque)
Barrister at Law
ORR,DIGNAM &CO. ADVOCATES & BARRISTERS
SHAJAN TOWER-2 (IST FLOOR)
3, SEGUNBAGICHAOFFICE NO.
101-104DHAKA-1000,BANGLADESH
Telephone : 880 2 9563950, 9563946
Fax : 880 2 9560257, 9559887E-mail :
dignior@bangla.net
hafizlaw@bdcom.com
OUR REF : H/(2010)/66 dated 12th April, 2010
YOUR REF:
Mr. Aneek R.Haque
Barrister-at-Law
Justiciars
Apartment#1, House #47
Oriental Prantic #1
Road #1
Dhanmondi
Dhaka-1205
Dear Sir,
Re : Reply to your Legal Notice dated 1.4.2010 and letter dated 6.4.2010 sent on behalf of Mr. Maqsoodul Haque.
We act on behalf of our client, Nokia Emerging Asia, Nokia having its office at Concord IK Tower, Plot #02, Block CEN (A), Gulshan North Avenue, Gulshan, Dhaka-1212 (“Nokia”) who has forwarded to us a copy of your Legal Notice dated 1st April, 2010 addressed to Mr, Prem Chand, General Manager of our client, which was received by our client on 5th April, 2010 and letter dated 6th April, 2010 addressed to Ms. Zertab Quaderi of Asiatic Marketing Communication Ltd(“Asiatic”) (which was copied to our client) and both of which were sent by you on behalf of your client Mr, Maqsoodul Haque. Under instructions of our client, Nokia we would state as follows:
That the statements made in paragraphs 1,2,3 and 4 of the Legal Notice are matters of record.
That with regard to the statements made in paragraphs 5 to 9 of the Legal Notice we would state that on 31st March, 2010 a meeting was held at the office of Asiatic in Dhaka in the presence of your client, Mr. Maqsoodul Haque and Mr. Foad Nasser Babu (representing the band ‘Feedback)and the representatives of Asiatic and in the said meeting it was resolved that for the purposes of the Campaign launched by Nokia the list of the songs of the band 'Feedback' which was chosen for the said Campaign would be revised in order to ensure that songs which have been written/composed by your client would be removed.
That our client’s Singapore office was closed from 2nd April, 2010 to 4th April, 2010 for Easter holidays and thereafter our client’s Singapore office took all necessary urgent steps and made all necessary arrangements to revise the song list to ensure that the songs written/composed by your client were removed from the Campaign.
That at present all public promotional activities and communications in the media in respect of the particular Campaign for Nokia have been stalled.
That as soon as our client was made aware of the objections raised by your client in the meeting on 31st March, 2010 our client took all necessary action to ensure that the Campaign of Nokia does not contain any song which has been written /composed by your client and hence our client has no intention to infringe upon the rights of any valid rights holders, or to be involved in any controversy or dispute regarding the rights of any valid rights holders, or to be involved in any controversy or dispute regarding the Campaign. The original song list and the proposed revised song list for the Campaign (which was complied with your client’s input) is attached hereto as “Annexure-A”. Please do let us know if your client has any concerns or objections in relation to this proposed revised song list.
In view of the above facts and circumstances we would request you to advise your client in relation to the steps taken by our client, which we believe has satisfactorily addressed the objections raised by your client regarding the song list for the Campaign and thereby brought any controversy regarding this Campaign to an end.
A copy of this reply is retained in our office for future reference.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully
-Signature Illegible-
Orr, Dignam & Co.
Advocates & Barristers
Shajan Tower-2 (1st Floor)
Office No. 101-104
Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.
Re: Your reply under Reference No. H/(2010)/66 dated 12th April, 2010 to my Legal Notice dated 01.04.2010 and letter dated 06.04.2010 sent on behalf of my client Mr. Maqsoodul Haque.
Dear Sirs,
I am in receipt of your reply as mentioned above. I have received instruction from my client to reply to the same in the following manner.
1. That in your reply you have referred to a meeting dated 31st March, 2010 held in Asiatic Office in Dhaka. My client has instructed me to inform you that whilst he did meet with Asiatic JWT upon the telephonic request of its Managing Director Mr.Aly Zaker as also Mr.Foad Nasser Babu of Feedback on the 31st March 2010 and spent over 2 hours patiently hearing out both parties, regrettably nothing as such was ‘agreed’ upon or ‘resolved’ in the said meeting.
The meeting ended inconclusively and while the list of song that will not be used for the campaign was discussed, Asiatic was vehemently reluctant to hand over a letter of affirmation of the same and kept debating meaninglessly whether it should be addressed to my client by them (Asiatic) or by Feedback.
When my client insisted that the letter ought to come from Asiatic being the brand custodian of Nokia and the guilty party on its own admission during the meeting for not looking at the legal aspects before concluding a commercial contract with Feedback – one Mr.Neville Ferdous Hasan of Asiatic who presided the meeting in presence of Ms. Zertab Quaderi in an implied threat told my client “What if we sent you a letter and went ahead and did exactly what we want to do?” and subsequently this actually proved to be the case as would be revealed later.
My client left the meeting after his final recap for clarity, stating in no uncertain terms that he expected a letter from Asiatic by noon of 1st April 2010, and an immediate stoppage of the campaign. The letter having not reached my client until the stipulated time; I was instructed to send out the legal notice without any further delay.
2.That we appreciate the fact that your Client’s office was closed from 2nd April, 2010 to 4th April, 2010, and we also admit the receipt of the e-mail sent by Ms. Quaderi informing us of the stoppage of public promotion and activities and communication in the media of that particular campaign. But as you surely have seen from my letter dated 06.04.2010 that even though this was assured no steps whatsoever was taken by Asiatic to that effect.
We have seen no press statement by either you or your client about the suspension of the campaign in the press nor did the website was taken down. And moreover till today I, personally have seen huge billboards promoting the said campaign in prominent parts of Dhaka City (including Mohakhali and Dhanmondi) coupled with the fact of another e-mail, sent by Mr. Aly Zaker, the Managing Director of Asiatic JWT (your client’s agent), which I mentioned in my said letter dated 06.04.2010, proves that the implied threat made by Mr. Hasan was no longer implied, rather your clients agents have gone through what they have intended, i.e. To cut my client down to size. We are still waiting for explanation of such slanderous and libelous remarks.
3. In the circumstances as stated above, I am instructed to inform you that, the steps taken by your client or its agent to address the situation is not satisfactory to my client. The controversy that has arisen over the matter was created by your client’s agent and I request you to take effective steps to settle the matter amicably.
A copy of this reply is kept in my chambers for future reference.
Thanking you.
Yours faithfully,
(Aneek. R. Haque)
Barrister at Law
ORR,DIGNAM &CO. ADVOCATES & BARRISTERS
SHAJAN TOWER-2 (IST FLOOR)
3, SEGUNBAGICHAOFFICE NO.
101-104DHAKA-1000,BANGLADESH
Telephone : 880 2 9563950, 9563946
Fax : 880 2 9560257, 9559887E-mail :
dignior@bangla.net
hafizlaw@bdcom.com
OUR REF : H/(2010)/66 dated 12th April, 2010
YOUR REF:
Mr. Aneek R.Haque
Barrister-at-Law
Justiciars
Apartment#1, House #47
Oriental Prantic #1
Road #1
Dhanmondi
Dhaka-1205
Dear Sir,
Re : Reply to your Legal Notice dated 1.4.2010 and letter dated 6.4.2010 sent on behalf of Mr. Maqsoodul Haque.
We act on behalf of our client, Nokia Emerging Asia, Nokia having its office at Concord IK Tower, Plot #02, Block CEN (A), Gulshan North Avenue, Gulshan, Dhaka-1212 (“Nokia”) who has forwarded to us a copy of your Legal Notice dated 1st April, 2010 addressed to Mr, Prem Chand, General Manager of our client, which was received by our client on 5th April, 2010 and letter dated 6th April, 2010 addressed to Ms. Zertab Quaderi of Asiatic Marketing Communication Ltd(“Asiatic”) (which was copied to our client) and both of which were sent by you on behalf of your client Mr, Maqsoodul Haque. Under instructions of our client, Nokia we would state as follows:
That the statements made in paragraphs 1,2,3 and 4 of the Legal Notice are matters of record.
That with regard to the statements made in paragraphs 5 to 9 of the Legal Notice we would state that on 31st March, 2010 a meeting was held at the office of Asiatic in Dhaka in the presence of your client, Mr. Maqsoodul Haque and Mr. Foad Nasser Babu (representing the band ‘Feedback)and the representatives of Asiatic and in the said meeting it was resolved that for the purposes of the Campaign launched by Nokia the list of the songs of the band 'Feedback' which was chosen for the said Campaign would be revised in order to ensure that songs which have been written/composed by your client would be removed.
That our client’s Singapore office was closed from 2nd April, 2010 to 4th April, 2010 for Easter holidays and thereafter our client’s Singapore office took all necessary urgent steps and made all necessary arrangements to revise the song list to ensure that the songs written/composed by your client were removed from the Campaign.
That at present all public promotional activities and communications in the media in respect of the particular Campaign for Nokia have been stalled.
That as soon as our client was made aware of the objections raised by your client in the meeting on 31st March, 2010 our client took all necessary action to ensure that the Campaign of Nokia does not contain any song which has been written /composed by your client and hence our client has no intention to infringe upon the rights of any valid rights holders, or to be involved in any controversy or dispute regarding the rights of any valid rights holders, or to be involved in any controversy or dispute regarding the Campaign. The original song list and the proposed revised song list for the Campaign (which was complied with your client’s input) is attached hereto as “Annexure-A”. Please do let us know if your client has any concerns or objections in relation to this proposed revised song list.
In view of the above facts and circumstances we would request you to advise your client in relation to the steps taken by our client, which we believe has satisfactorily addressed the objections raised by your client regarding the song list for the Campaign and thereby brought any controversy regarding this Campaign to an end.
A copy of this reply is retained in our office for future reference.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully
-Signature Illegible-
posted by Mac Haque at 10:00 AM
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