‘Hard to determine Please Call Me compensation’
WHILE the issue of what is reasonable compensation for a brilliant idea is the essence of Please Call Me inventor Nkosana Makate’s case, it’s like asking what is the length of a piece of string – there is no obvious answer to this.
This is the argument of Advocate Wim Trengove SC, acting on behalf of Vodacom.
The cellphone network giant is adamant that the R47 million offered to Makate is “over generous”.
Counsel acting for Vodacom argued on the third day of the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria proceedings that Judge Wendy Hughes can only overturn this amount if she could find that Vodacom chief executive Shameel Joosub acted unreasonably when he decided that this was fair compensation.
In determining the amount, Joosub made several generous assumptions in Makate’s favour, the court was told.
When Joosub came to R47m, he did so honestly and to the best of his ability.
He kept an open mind and listened to submissions from both Vodacom and the Makate camp before he came to this amount. It was not an easy exercise, Trengove said.
It was argued that while Makate said the calculations were wrong and that he was due much more, he never gave a precise amount he thought he should get.
The Makate camp earlier argued that looking at the various models, he is entitled to at least R10 billion, without interest. It was said that, among others, Vodacom should look at the percentage of customers who use the Please Call Me application and calculate what revenue Vodacom has generated from this over at least the last 18 years.
Trengove argued that the question is not whether the R47m is right or wrong, but rather whether it was a patently inequitable result following the proceedings before the chief executive.
Trengove said the key was to look around the world to see what employers paid employees for brilliant ideas thought out from home.
He questioned why the Makate camp did not investigate this aspect. He said what he could gather was that employers either gave their employees a trip to Mauritius or a million or so, but never R47m.
Counsel for Makate this week argued that the Please Call Me invention was patentable. Trengove yesterday asked why this route was then never explored by Makate.
“He was never a service provider. He provided a brilliant idea and that is all, just an idea. Trengove said Makate never invested the capital to expand the idea. He argued that Vodacom had to adapt the idea to make it usable.
Vodacom concluded their submissions yesterday afternoon by asking the court to turn down the review application.
Advocate Cedric Puckrin indicated that he would reply to all these arguments today after which it was expected that Judge Hughes would reserve her judgment.
Makate is asking that the court determine the amount of compensation due to him. But, his counsel said, in the event that the judge decided to refer the matter back to the chief executive to determine, she should issue clear guidelines on the process which should be followed.