[Watch] Vodacom ordered to pay ‘Please Call Me’ inventor within days

The SCA allegedly ordered Vodacom to determine a reasonable compensation amount due to the ‘Please Call Me’ inventor within 30 days.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in South Africa on Tuesday ordered Vodacom to determine a reasonable compensation amount due to their Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate after he previously rejected their R47m offer, SowetanLIVE reported.

COURT SIDES WITH ‘PLEASE CALL ME’ INVENTOR, VODACOM TO PAY UP

After the ruling was handed down, the publication quoted Makate as saying: “The end is near.” Vodacom will have to compensate the Please Call Me-idea man Nkosana Makate between 5 and 10 per cent of the total revenue that the service generated over the last 18 years, plus interest, IOL reported.

According to court documents, Vodacom has been given 30 days to determine a reasonable compensation amount due to Makate.

In February 2022, Vodacom was ordered to increase the initial offer it had put forward to the inventor. This reportedly follows Makate disagreeing with Vodacom’s R47 million offer which came after being embroiled in the legal battle for over two decades.

According to the publication, the Please Call Me (PCM) idea hit Makate after he struggled to communicate with his now-wife, who at the time was a student and in a long-distance relationship with him.

MORE ABOUT THE PCM INVENTOR’S BATTLE WITH THE NETWORK PROVIDER

In 2009, Vodacom’s former CEO Alan-Knott Craig was also accused of having allegedly tried to take credit for Nkosana Makate’s PCM invention in his autobiography Second is Nothing, EWN reported. During that time, the South African inventor was allegedly demanding a whopping R9 billion for his invention instead of the R47 million offer Vodacom has put out.

The Pretoria High Court in 2012 also agreed that Vodacom’s offer was unfair, the publication added. Vodacom will now have to determine a new offer to satisfy both the service provider and the inventor.