The High Court has awarded writer Annette Najjemba Shs 100 million after finding that MK Publishers Limited infringed her copyright by adapting and selling her children’s stories without permission.
The judgement, delivered by Justice Patience Rubagumya on October 2, 2025, also put to a halt any further use of her work by the publisher.
The case can be traced to 2010, when Najjemba created an original manuscript titled Our Folktales. This collection featured six short stories for children: “The Gooseberry Triplets”, “Mukoijo the Glutton”, “The Cruel Step Mother”, “Muvubi and His Fish Friends”, “Kaleku and the Enormous Beast”, and “The Snake and the Beautiful Girl”.
These tales, drawn from folklore, were designed to entertain and educate young readers.
In 2012, Najjemba submitted a revised version of the manuscript to MK Publishers for potential publication. She made changes at their suggestion, hoping they would help market and print the book. However, no formal contract was signed.
Instead, in 2013, Najjemba discovered that the publisher had taken four of her stories, altered them to fit Rwandan cultural contexts (for example, renaming characters like “Mukoijo” to “Mugabe” and “Muvubi” to “Umuro”), and converted them into audio formats. These were then sold to the Rwandan government as part of educational materials for primary school pupils in grades five and six.
The adapted stories appeared on compact discs labelled as “MK Audio Stories”, with the publisher’s logo prominently displayed – but no credit given to Najjemba as the original author. The Rwandan government distributed the materials to schools, effectively spreading the infringing content widely. Najjemba claimed this was done without her knowledge, consent, or any payment, prompting her to sue for copyright infringement.
Initially, the lawsuit also targeted the Rwandan Attorney General, but Najjemba withdrew that part in 2024, focusing solely on MK Publishers.
The court boiled the dispute down to one main question: Did MK Publishers infringe Najjemba’s copyright?
Copyright, in simple terms, is the legal right that protects creators from having their work copied, changed, or sold without permission. Najjemba argued that her stories were original, and the publisher had no right to adapt or sell them. MK Publishers countered that by submitting the manuscript, Najjemba had implicitly agreed to changes for marketability, including Rwandan adaptations, and that she was entitled to royalties.
Justice Rubagumya examined evidence, including emails, transcribed audio stories, and the sales contract with Rwanda. She found no valid licence or agreement allowing the changes or sale. The alterations and lack of attribution violated Najjemba’s moral rights – the right to be recognised as the creator and to prevent harmful changes to the work.
Najjemba sought royalties, damages, an order to destroy infringing copies, and a ban on further use.
The court ruled that the publisher’s actions amounted to substantial copying and infringement, rejecting their defence of a “gentleman’s agreement”.
Najjemba was awarded Shs 100 million in damages, 30% of the profits from the audio story sales, plus 24% interest per year from December 2012 (when the sale to Rwanda occurred) until full payment.
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The court also slapped a permanent injunction banning MK Publishers and its agents from any further dealing, reproduction, or distribution of Our Folktales.
However, the court declined to order the destruction of the infringing discs, as they had already been sold to Rwanda and are now their property.
For MK Publishers, they must pay up and cease any involvement with the stories, potentially setting a precedent for how they handle future submissions.
The company had argued Najjemba was due only 10% royalties under their policy, but the court tripled that to reflect the infringement’s severity.
