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  • Please Call Me case set for further appeal: paper

Please Call Me case set for further appeal: paper

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 14 Dec 2014
Nkosana Makate is prepared to go all the way to the Constitutional Court in his fight against Vodacom.
Nkosana Makate is prepared to go all the way to the Constitutional Court in his fight against Vodacom.

The man who claims to be behind the innovative Please Call Me service, Nkosana Makate, is not giving up on his case, despite a High Court ruling this week barring him from appealing a previous decision.

Instead, the Business Times reports, Makate and his legal team is prepared to work through the holiday break to put papers together so that he can take the matter up with the Supreme Court of Appeal.

This week, the South Gauteng High Court refused Makate leave to appeal a July judgement that found in favour of Vodacom because of the amount of time that had lapsed between when he allegedly introduced the service to Vodacom and when he lodged his claim.

Makate, who used to work for SA's largest cellular provider, took Vodacom to court in 2008 in an attempt to get compensation for the Please Call Me service, which he claims he invented in 2000.

Sparking what turned out to be a protracted legal battle, Makate claimed he had invented the popular cellphone service while working for Vodacom as a junior accountant some 14 years ago now. He said the concept arose when he was not sure whether a then-girlfriend, now his wife, was out of airtime, or avoiding him.

Makate only instituted legal action against Vodacom eight years after the service was introduced, however - a fact that counted against him when it came to judgment being passed earlier this year.

Former Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig previously testified, saying he invented the concept himself while watching two security guards trying to communicate via missed calls. Business Times reports this version did not stand up in court.

The paper also notes Makate and his backers - Sterling Rand - are prepared to go all the way to the Constitutional Court so he can win the 15% of the proceeds he believes is due to him. According to Vodacom's managing executive for mobile commerce, Herman Singh, the operator sends out 3.6 billion Please Call Me messages a year (28 million a day).

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