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'Please Call Me' case against Vodacom continues: paper

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 19 Apr 2015
Vodacom sends out 3.6 billion Please Call Me messages a year.
Vodacom sends out 3.6 billion Please Call Me messages a year.

Nkosana Makate, who claims to have invented the popular "Please Call Me" service, wants to Constitutional Court to hear his case.

This is according to the Business Times and comes after Makate's bid to have a Supreme Court of Appeal decision set aside. The paper reports that the Supreme Court of Appeal had refused him right to appeal a previous High Court ruling, which found against him.

Last December, 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.

According to Business Report, Makate's latest papers claim the court's refusal to allow him to appeal amount to a denial of his right to access the courts, and is unconstitutional. He also wants the court to accept that people are not always in an equal bargaining position, reports the Sunday paper.

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.

Launching 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 about 14 years ago. He claimed the thought of the concept when he was not sure whether a then-girlfriend, now his wife, was out of airtime, or avoiding him.

However, Makate only instituted legal action against Vodacom eight years after the service was introduced, which 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 has reported that this version did not stand up in court.

In December, the paper also noted Makate and his backers - Sterling Rand - were 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.

Vodacom has defended the action, according to the paper, and argued the concept alone - without any technical solution - would be worth "a few thousand rand". As of the end of last year, Vodacom was sending out 3.6 billion Please Call Me messages a year, or 28 million a day.

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