Court Urges Settlement in ₦98.5bn Patent Battle Against CBN, NIBSS

The Federal High Court in Lagos has urged parties in a ₦98.5 billion patent infringement lawsuit involving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Enterprise Logistics Special Limited and Avanage Nigeria Limited to make genuine efforts to resolve the dispute out of court before trial begins.

Justice Deinde Dipeolu gave the advice on Tuesday after declining to commence trial because the CBN, Avanage Nigeria Limited and the Registrar of Patents and Designs were not represented by counsel.

Enterprise Logistics Special Limited and its Managing Director, Samuel Kolajo, are seeking about ₦98.5 billion in damages over the alleged infringement of their patented cash management technology, an alleged breach of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and losses they claim arose from the failure to deploy their cash management solution on Nigeria's national payment infrastructure.

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Tayo Oyetibo appeared for the plaintiffs alongside Jessica Adeola-Ajayi and Esther Bawa, while Olaoluwa Ale-Daniel represented NIBSS.

When the matter came up, Oyetibo informed the court that the case had been fixed for trial and that the plaintiffs' witness was present and ready to testify.

However, Justice Dipeolu ruled that the absent defendants must first be served with hearing notices before proceedings could continue. He consequently ordered that hearing notices be issued and served ahead of the next hearing.

The judge also reminded counsel of provisions of the Federal High Court Act encouraging amicable settlement of disputes and urged all parties to engage in meaningful negotiations before trial.

Responding, counsel for NIBSS argued that the payment system operator functions under the regulatory supervision of the CBN and lacks the authority to independently grant access to its infrastructure.

He further maintained that NIBSS could not support.