When content creator and actress Foi Wambui was contracted by Chinese smartphone maker Oppo to promote its Reno 12 5G, released in 2024, across her social media platforms, the deal came with a tidy payment of Sh600,000.
At the time, Ms Wambui had more than 323,000 followers on Instagram and 265,000 on TikTok, giving the campaign a sizeable digital audience.
For the campaign, Ms Wambui produced a skit featuring singer and music producer Joshua Mutoriah Mwaura’s song “Beta”, which was enjoying considerable airplay at the time.
The skit showed Ms Wambui and a male companion creating romantic memories during a picnic, using the Oppo phone to take photographs.
It later shifts to Ms Wambui crying, apparently following the end of their relationship. A voice urges her to delete the photographs she had taken with her former lover. Instead, she demonstrates one of the phone’s features, using the Reno 12 5G to erase the man from the pictures while leaving the rest of the images intact.
The video was accompanied by a caption explicitly promoting the phone, and its viewership gave Ms Wambui a strong showing against the campaign’s key performance targets.
Kenyan singer and producer Mutoriah performs at Blankets and Wine, held at the Kasarani Indoor Arena in Nairobi on May 7, 2026.
Photo credit: Thomas Rajula| Nation Media Group
Ten days later, on September 10, he, through his lawyer, wrote to Ms Wambui and Oppo, demanding a public apology and an admission of copyright infringement for using his song to promote a commercial product without his authorisation.
The demands were rejected, leaving Mutoriah to take the dispute to the Magistrates’ Court on November 7, 2024.
“This use of my work amounts to copyright infringement, as I had not licensed its use as the owner. Such use of copyrighted music would require a synchronisation licence. The same licence was not procured from me by the defendants (Ms Wambui and Oppo),” Mutoriah stated in his court submission.
He further argued that Ms Wambui infringed his copyright by publishing the video on her Instagram account.
In her defence, however, Ms Wambui’s manager admitted liability on her part, while shifting responsibility to Oppo for subsequently publishing the same video on its social media platforms as a sponsored advertisement.
Foi Wambui is an actress, YouTuber, and radio/TV presenter.
Photo credit: Pool
Oppo denied liability and pointed instead to Aifluence Ltd, a marketing agency it said had been contracted to execute the campaign. According to Oppo, it did not contract Ms Wambui directly. Rather, it engaged Aifluence, which then retained her as a brand influencer.
As the case moved into cross-examination ahead of a hearing, Ms Wambui sought to extricate herself from the dispute.
On November 7, 2025, she filed an application seeking to have her name struck out of the case, arguing that any liability for the failure to secure the necessary music rights lay squarely with Oppo.
“The 1st Defendant/Applicant (Ms Wambui) is a stranger to the series of events leading to the approval process that was undertaken by the 3rd Defendant (Oppo) and is not liable for the failure of the 3rd Respondent (Oppo) to acquire the requisite licenses from the Plaintiff (Mutoriah) herein,” Ms Wambui stated through her lawyers.
A central plank of her argument was that she did not control the final content used in the campaign.
“The sole basis of joining the 1st Defendant/Applicant to this suit is the allegation that the 1st Defendant/Applicant posted a video advertising the 2nd Defendant’s Mobile Phone on her Instagram account despite her not having had any control over the final approved content on account of the 3rd Defendant’s (Oppo) sole control in the approval process.”
Ms Wambui said she was not involved in reviewing or approving the final version of the content selected by Oppo.
“As such, the 1st Defendant/Applicant did not have any control over the content that was published as all review and approval rights remained with the 3rd Defendant (Oppo), which was inclusive of the acquisition of the requisite synchronisation rights. The 3rd Defendant required that all content be reviewed and approved by it before any posting by the 1st Defendant.”
Her position, therefore, was that the terms of her engagement made her an independent contractor whose content was subject to Oppo’s review and approval, including responsibility for securing the necessary rights for the music used in the final advertisement.
In opposing Ms Wambui’s application, Oppo argued that it was not its responsibility to seek clearance for the use of the song because it did not dictate which songs she would use.
“The Plaintiff (Mutoriah), in his replying affidavit, avers that the 1st Defendant posted the synchronised video on her social media page and she should have confirmed clearance of the synchronisation before doing so as she is also a creative and well aware of the processes involved. The applicant (Ms Wambui) is very crucial in the suit since she was involved in the making of the skit/video in question, resulting in this suit. It's the applicant’s social media account, specifically her Instagram account, where the impugned advertising content was posted and disseminated,” Oppo argued.
During a recent ruling on Ms Wambui’s application, Magistrate Hosea Mwangi refused to let the actress off the hook, maintaining that she had a case to answer as far as infringing on Mutoriah’s copyright was concerned.
“From the pleadings filed, I find that the Plaintiff (Mutoriah) has pleaded facts that raise a reasonable cause of action against all the defendants, and the issues raised by the applicant can only be properly ventilated and canvassed during the hearing. Whether the 1st defendant was only contracted by the 3rd defendant and whether the 1st defendant also ought to have sought any synchronising license from the Plaintiff are matters which cannot be comprehensively determined through an interlocutory application.”
In other words, the magistrate noted that Ms Wambui’s formal request to have her removed from the suit can only be determined by a final trial or judgment in the case.
“From the foregoing, I find that the plaint discloses a reasonable cause of action against the 1st defendant and the matter should proceed to a full trial. The application (by Ms Wambui) is not merited and is hereby dismissed with costs to the respondents,” the magistrate ruled.
If found liable, when assessing the damages, Principal Magistrate Mwangi will be at liberty to award up to Sh10 million as spelt out in the Magistrates’ Courts Act, based on his rank.
The Act allows Senior Principal Magistrates to award up to Sh15 million in damages, while the Chief Magistrate is capped at Sh20 million.
