Telecommunications giant Safaricom has suffered a legal setback after the High Court dismissed its application to strike out key documents presented by Transcend Media Group in an ongoing intellectual property dispute.
Justice Alfred Mabeya ruled against Safaricom’s request to expunge several documents, including a forensic report from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which Transcend Media intends to use as evidence in the case.
The dispute centers around allegations that Safaricom’s BLAZE youth campaign was developed using concepts originally pitched by the media agency.
In its application, Safaricom argued that the documents in question—including an audit report by KPMG, the DCI forensic report dated October 13, 2016, and an analysis from the Kenya Copyright Board (Kecobo)—were confidential and obtained without its consent. The telco also contended that the reports contained private and privileged information, making them inadmissible in court.
However, Justice Mabeya dismissed these claims, stating that the forensic report had been lawfully conducted and that Safaricom had previously consented to its preparation. He noted that a prior court ruling on January 27, 2023, had established the legitimacy of the report.
“The simple answer is that the report was lawfully undertaken, the defendants having agreed to the same as found out in the ruling of this court of 27/1/2023,” Justice Mabeya ruled.
The judge further rejected Safaricom’s argument that Transcend Media had failed to disclose its witnesses or confirm who would testify regarding the documents. The court maintained that the issue had already been deliberated in a previous application dismissed in 2019.
Transcend Media, in its defense, argued that the forensic analysis of seized computers and laptops—allegedly used by individuals linked to the case—was carried out by the DCI’s Cybercrime Department with full legal backing. The agency maintained that the evidence was obtained legally and was crucial in proving its claims against the telco.
With the ruling, the court has paved the way for the case to proceed to a full hearing, where Safaricom will have to respond to the intellectual property infringement claims leveled against it.
