The National Organisation for Reproduction Rights in Music in Southern Africa (NORM) has taken action against Exactmobile, a mobile content provider in South Africa, which is owned by Primedia Ltd. NORM claims that Exactmobile has not paid royalties over copyrighted content since January 2006, and is asking for an additional R2m for damages resultant of the copyright infringement.

NORM requests for 7.5% of each ringtone sale, which according to the regulator, is reasonable compared to the 8.2% average royalty charged in Europe. Several mobile content providers have requested for this rate to lower to the 5% mark, which is denied by NORM, said Jay Savage, NORM Board member and MD of Sony ATV Music.

A large number of African and International artists are being affected by the infringement from Exactmobile, and NORM is requesting all the affected artists to make their voices heard and complain against the piracy that the provider is conducting.

Exactmobile denies the allegations, and says that it has the money ready in trust accounts, and is waiting for NORM to request the payment.

Exactmobile CEO, Davin Mole, does not agree with the rate charged at the moment: "We have consulted copyright experts, as well as other major players and we are confident our offer of 5% is a reasonable and fair offer, which is market-related and meets the expectation of the Copyright Act," and said that the summons made by NORM are invalid: "There are certain fatal flaws, which will necessitate the withdrawal of the summons and we have launched the appropriate legal procedure. We would expect NORM to respect the legal process, and allow the law to take it's course without further inappropriate discussion in the media. We view the comments made by NORM as defamatory and we reserve our legal rights in this regard."

[via Bizcommunity.com (1,2)]