Wakilii

Okidi v MTN(U) Ltd & anor (Civil Suit No. 286 of 2010)

High Court · [2015] UGCOMMC 110 · 2015 Preliminary Objection Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Preliminary objection raised by defendants challenging competence of amended plaint for alleged under-payment of filing fees
Decision
Preliminary objection dismissed; matter to proceed to full hearing on merit

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

A preliminary objection alleging under-payment of filing fees on an amended plaint claiming copyright infringement and unquantified general damages was overruled. The court held that the claim was unliquidated, as remedies could only be valued after hearing evidence, and the registrar properly assessed filing fees at UGX 150,000 based on the nature of the claim.

Outcome

Preliminary objection dismissed; matter to proceed to full hearing on merit

Facts

The plaintiff sued the defendants for copyright infringement, seeking cancellation of ME 24 trademark and business name registrations, and claiming general, exemplary and aggravated damages, delivery, and account of profits. The plaintiff's amended plaint proposed compensation at UGX 7,800 per subscriber for one million subscribers. When the suit was called for hearing, the defendants raised a preliminary objection contending that only UGX 150,000 filing fees had been paid whereas the claimed amount of UGX 7,800,000,000 would attract fees of approximately UGX 70,000,000, making the plaint incompetent under Order 7 rule 11(b) and (o) of the Civil Procedure Rules.

Issues

  1. Whether the plaint is incompetently before court for payment of insufficient filing fees.
  2. What remedies are available to the parties.

Orders

  • Preliminary objection overruled.
  • Case to be heard on merit.
  • Costs to abide the outcome of the main suit.

Rules and key headnotes

Court Fees — Unliquidated Claims — Assessment of Filing Fees
Where a claim seeks general damages and other remedies that can only be valued after hearing evidence, the claim is unliquidated and the registrar may assess filing fees based on the nature of the claim rather than figures proposed in pleadings.
Court Fees — Deficient Fees — Court's Discretion to Order Payment
Under section 97 of the Civil Procedure Act and rule 6 of the Judicature Act (Court Fees, Fines and Deposits) Rules, the court has discretionary powers to order payment of deficient court fees for any document required by law to have fees paid, and upon payment the document shall have the same force and effect as if fees had been paid in the first instance.
Court Fees — Proposed Damages in Intellectual Property Claims — Evidential Value
Numerical figures for damages proposed in pleadings in a copyright infringement suit are proposals to the court for evidential purposes and do not convert an unliquidated claim into a liquidated one requiring payment of fees based on those proposed figures.

Legislation cited (5)

  • Judicature Act (Court Fees, Fines and Deposits) Rules SI 13-3 s.26
  • Civil Procedure Act s.97
  • Judicature Act (Court Fees, Fines and Deposits) Rules r.6
  • Civil Procedure Rules O.7 r.11(b)
  • Civil Procedure Rules O.7 r.11(o)

Cases cited (2)

  • Lawrence Muwanga Stephen v Stephen Kyeyune (Supreme Court Civil Appeal No. 12 of 2001)
  • Namatovu Susan v Baguma Augustine (Civil Suit No. 1073 of 2013)

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Okidi v MTN(U) Ltd & anor (Civil Suit No. 286 of 2010) [2015] UGCommC 110 (19 August 2015)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.