Safaricom—Kenyan High Court found Safaricom infringed developer's M-Teen mobile wallet copyright, ordered KES 1.4B ($10.8M) plus ongoing 0.5% M-Pesa revenue royalty
In Muoki & another v Safaricom PLC & another [2026] KEHC 6326 (KLR), the Kenyan High Court found that Safaricom copied software developer Peter Nthei Muoki's 'M-Teen Mobile Wallet USSD Code' to launch its own nearly identical 'Manage Child Account' / 'Manage Junior Account' feature (USSD code *334#) without license or compensation. The court awarded KES 1,400,067,000 (~$10.8M) in general damages plus interest, and ordered Safaricom to pay an ongoing royalty of 0.5% of gross M-Pesa revenue annually, starting from the financial year ended March 31, 2025, for as long as it operates the infringing or substantially similar functionality.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intellectual Property Ethics | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.248 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.66)× agency (compelled ×0.25)
Evidence (2 signals)
Telecompaper reported Kenyan court ordered Safaricom to pay over KES 1 billion for M-Pesa copyright infringement
Wire-style trade press report on the Kenyan High Court's judgment against Safaricom in the M-Teen/Manage Child Account copyright case, confirming the damages award and ongoing royalty obligation.
Full court judgment Muoki & another v Safaricom PLC & another [2026] KEHC 6326 (KLR) detailing copyright infringement findings and damages
Primary court record of the Kenyan High Court's ruling, setting out the infringement findings against Safaricom over the M-Teen Mobile Wallet USSD code and the resulting damages and royalty order.