Claim No. Anne Giwa-Amu Claimant
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/,., . Claim No. Anne Giwa-Amu Claimant -and- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 1St Defendant ~Iarper Collins Publishers Ltd 2°~ Defendant ~,I..Y „~ S sS/~ ,q ~P+ '~a¢raa Pt~RTICULARS OF CLAIM m y e ~~NTY G~~ 1)The Claimant is a qualified Solicitor and obtained her LL.B degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The Claimant lived in Nigeria from 1961 — 1974. She is a UK resident and the author of the literary novel `SADE'/'SADE United We Stand'. 2) In 1993, the Claimant started writing the literary novel now entitled SADE which was based on her own knowledge and experiences in Nigeria. Over many years, the Claimant had carried out extensive research, visited the Red Cross Centre at Guilford and interviewed a number of people, including Dr Patrick Ediomi Davis (Paddy Davies) who had worked for the Biafran Propaganda Secretariat. Paddy Davies obtained a degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) on the use of propaganda in civil war focusing on the Biafran experience. The Claimant collated and interpreted material and compiled the sequence of events in SADE exerting a substantial amount of skill, labour and judgement. 3)Between 1994-1995, the Claimant sent a copy of her manuscript to the 2"d Defendant along with other publishing houses. Although Heinemann UK accepted Sade for 1 ~... publication under the African Writers' Series they failed to publish. Chinua Achebe was one of the founding editors of the African Writers' Series which had been established to promote black African literature. The novel was also accepted for publication by Longman UK who also failed to publish following to a policy decision not to publish Nigerian literature due to a lack of market. 4)In 1996, the Claimant self published SADE. She asserted her right to be identified as the author of the work in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Design and Patents Act 1988. The Claimant owns the copyright to the literary works, the photograph and graphic image on the front cover. A CIP catalogue record for the book is available from the British Library. The Claimant was issued with an ISBN — 0 9529174 0 8. SADE was printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox &Wyman Ltd at a cost of £3,000 for 3,000 copies. The sale price was £8.99 per copy. Sade was distributed by Turnaround Publishers Services and their sales report in January 1997 indicated that 101 copies were sold through bookshops. After commission the Claimant was paid £764.60. In February 1997 the Claimant was paid £1,318.83 and in March 1997 the Claimant was paid £1,565.61. There was one print run. 5)BADE was launched on 15 December 1996 at the Africa Centre, Covent Garden. The launch was attended by the acting Nigerian High Commissioner, His Excellency U.O. Okelce, Dr Paddy Davies, a number ofjournalists and writers. SADE generated a great deal of interest and was reviewed by over 20 newspapers and magazines including; The Western Mail, Pride, The Nigerian (The official magazine of the High Commission), Africa Today, West Africa, New African, Business in Africa, New Nation, Det Sker & Kultur, Pan Africa, and Ovation. The Claimant was interviewed by the BBC World Service and by various newspapers and magazines. 6)In 1998, the Claimant sent a copy of her manuscript to Heinemaim Educational Books Ltd, Nigeria. Chinua Achebe, a writer linked to the Biafra propaganda effort, was the main decision maker on the Board of Directors at Heinemann. The Claimant was told that Chinua Achebe read and accepted SADE for publication for Senior Secondary School level. The Claimant provided Heinemann with the IBM compatible floppy disk containing the type set novel. Heinemann requested a subtitle and the Claimant provided two alternative titles, `The Rising Sun' and `United We 2 ~,,._ l~.. Stand'. In 1999, Sade was published by Heinemann under the sub-title `Sade United We Stand'. The Claimant granted Heinemann a 20 year licence from 26 March 1998 for the Nigerian market only. Heinemann Nigeria failed to account for the number of copies sold or pay any royalties whatsoever. 7)At all material times the lst Defendant was the author of the infringing literary work entitled Half of a Yellow Sun(HAYS). The 1St Defendant was born in 1977 after the period she writes about. She claims to have written HAYS after reading thirty-one Nigerian/Biafran books as listed in her bibliography. She claims to have excluding SADE/ SADE United We Stand from her reading list. Her first novel Purple Hibiscus starts with the words: `Things started to fall apart...'. `Things Fall Apart' being the title of the first novel written by Chinua Achebe. During an interview with the Premium Times, the lst Defendant confirmed that her father, Professor James Nwoye Adichie, knew Chinua Achebe as they worked at the same university in Nsukka. She stated that when Chinua Achebe moved out of his house at the university he gave the house to her father, Professor Adichie. The 1St Defendant admits that she benefited from living in Chinua Achebe's house. More recently the 1St Defendant attended various events where Chinua Achebe was present. She continues to use her association with Chinua Achebe to promote her literary career despite Achebe's death in 2013. 8)During her interview with the Premium Times, the 1St Defendant stated that after the publication of her first novel; Purple Hibiscus, Chinua Achebe wanted to arrange a meeting with her. She was sent an email by Achebe's son providing her with Chinua Achebe's telephone number. The 1St Defendant claims that after this communication she started working on HAYS and a few years later, one of her editors (Mitzi Angel, Anjali Singh or Robin Desser) gave Chinua Achebe the final manuscript. Achebe read the manuscript and endorsing it for publication. He provided the 1St Defendant with the blurb, (see www.premiumtimesng.com/arts-entertainment/108378-chinua- achebe-at-82-we) stating: `We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but helve is a new water endowed with the gift ofancient stoNytellers. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie knows what zs at stake, and what to do about it...She isfearless, or she would 3 ~. k- not have taken on the intimidating horror ofNigeria's civil war. Adichie came almostfully made.' CHINUA ACHEBE In addition, Chinua Achebe's poem,from `Mango Seedling' in Christmas in Biafra and Other Poems appears on the first page: Today Isee it still — Dry, wire-thzn in sun and dust ofthe dry months — Headstone on tiny debNis ofpassionate courage. Also the back cover of HAYS contains a blurb by Crlinua Achebe: `A new w~ite~• endowed with the gift ofancient storytellers' 9)The Wylie Agency were Chinua Achebe's literary agents at the time and also accepted the 1St Defendant and Biyi Bandele (aka Biyi Bandele-Thomas)their books. lst Biyi Bandele worked with the 1St Defendant to adapt Sade for a screen play. The Defendant and Biyi Bandele knew Chinua Achebe having met with him and spoken to him on a number of occasions. Biyi Bandele adapted the novel `Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe for a screen play and took part in the performance. Biyi Bandele and the 1St Defendant travelled together in Nigeria prior to the production of the film HAYS. 10)At all material times the 2"d Defendant carried on business as the publishers of the infringing novel. The 2"d Defendant was aware that the Claimant owned the copyright to SADE and failed to conduct due diligence on receipt of the infringing manuscript from The Wylie Agency. 11)The Claimant first became aware that SADE had been copied in July 2013 when the film HAYS was advertised in London. The Claimant saw a poster depicting the love story between a mixed race woman (played by Thandie Newton) and a black man with the backcloth of the Nigerian civil war. The heroine in SADE was also mixed race and married to a black man. Seeing the poster provoked the Claimant to 4 purchase a copy of the book HAYS. The heroine in the book HAYS was not mixed race. 12)On receiving the book HAYS,the Claimant discovered that the cover art was similar to SADE. The front cover of SADE was a digitally altered profile picture of a young black girl. The cover art picked up the colours from the Biafran flag -red, black and yellow excluding green from the artwork. The image of the model was superimposed onto a yellow, orange and red background representing emblem of the rising sun from the Biafran flag. The girl's hair was overlaid in black and the author's name was in black. The title was in red. Although the heroine Sade was `half-caste' the Claimant did not use a `half-caste' model on the cover art. In July 2013, the Claimant complained to the 2"d Defendant that the front cover of SADE had been copied. The 2°d Defendant described their cover art in HAYS as `a black woman in profile with a burst of red, yellow and black, colours reminiscent of the flag of Biafra'. The 2"d defendant had also excluded the colour green from the cover art. The 2°d Defendant has since changed the front cover of HAYS. 13)On reading HAYS the Claimant discovered that the setting, structure, plot, language, themes, characterisation, incidents, content, form, subject matter, supporting arguments, and scenes were substantially similar to SADE. HAYS incorporated almost every aspect of SADE whilst expanding on the dialogue and content.