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Mandela 'signed away copyright'
12/05/2005 08:09 - (SA)
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| File photo of one of former president Nelson Mandela's artworks. (Beeld) |
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Yvonne Beyers, Beeld
Johannesburg - Former president Nelson Mandela probably unknowingly signed away his name, the copyright to all his work and his moral claims to ownership to Ismail Ayob, his legal representative of long standing.
This is shown in a document in the possession of Die Burger, which apparently was signed on 22 June 2001 by Mandela and Ayob. A signature that appears to be that of Mandela is on the document.
However, in a sworn statement, Mandela denies that he would or did sign such an agreement. He accepts that while he signed the document, he did so because Ayob had misled him about its contents.
According to this document, which is one of 640 pages handed in to the Johannesburg High Court by his legal team, Mandela signed away the rights to the names "Nelson Rolilahla Mandela", "Nelson Mandela", "Mandela", "NRM", "NM" and "Madiba" to Tinancier Investments of which Ayob was the sole shareowner.
By doing so, Mandela signed away his copyright to his own work to Ayob.
According to Mandela's sworn statement, he was not aware of what rights he was signing away to Tinancier. None of his confidents were aware of the existence of Tinancier either.
Mandela claims further that he has been advised that the terms of the agreement are too vague and ambiguous to be binding in law.
"In the event that he did indeed sign such an agreement, he now submits that it be declared invalid because he had no idea of the implications of what he was signing," says his statement.
Trusted Ayob
He alleges further that Ayob advised him to sign for his (Ayob's) own direct or indirect benefit. He would not have signed away ownership of such rights for Ayob's private gain or benefit.
According to Mandela, he trusted Ayob, and frequently signed documents prepared by him. "His habit was to put documents in front of me and give me a brief explanation. I relied on him, and I signed what he advised," says Mandela's statement.
Zelda la Grange, Mandela's spokesperson confirmed that Mandela often signed long documents brought to him by Ayob without studying their contents.
Adri Malan, head of marketing for the law firm Spoor and Fisher, which manages Ayob's copyright claims, declined to comment to the media.
Ayob must still respond to Mandela's allegations. He was not available for comment on Wednesday.
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