A litigation financing company based in the British Virgin Islands has asserted rights to 40 percent of the settlement payment between telecommunications provider Vodacom and inventor Nkosana Makate over the Please Call Me service. Black Rock Mining Limited contends a 2011 funding arrangement entitles the firm to a substantial portion of the compensation, which analysts estimate ranges between 350 million rand and 750 million rand following the November 4 resolution of their two-decade dispute.
Makate's legal representatives have rejected the demand, maintaining that any agreement with Black Rock terminated in 2015 and describing the claim as without merit. The inventor developed the callback request feature in 2000 while employed as a trainee accountant at Vodacom, and South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that he deserved fair compensation for the widely adopted technology that generated significant revenue for the company.
Makate's legal representatives have rejected the demand, maintaining that any agreement with Black Rock terminated in 2015 and describing the claim as without merit. The inventor developed the callback request feature in 2000 while employed as a trainee accountant at Vodacom, and South Africa's Constitutional Court ruled in 2016 that he deserved fair compensation for the widely adopted technology that generated significant revenue for the company.
