A Federal High Court in Lagos has asked parties in a ₦98.5 billion patent infringement claim involving Enterprise Logistics Speciale Limited, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), and Avanage Nigeria Limited to seek an amicable settlement.
Justice Deinde Dipeolu issued the directive after declining to start the trial because some of the defendants lacked lawyers.
The plaintiffs, Enterprise Logistics Speciale Limited and its Managing Director, Samuel Kolajo, seek damages for alleged infringement of their patented cash management technology, breach of a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and alleged losses resulting from the refusal to deploy their solution on Nigeria’s national payment infrastructure.
Tayo Oyetibo (SAN) represented the plaintiffs in the proceedings, along with Jessica Adeola-Ajayi and Esther Bawa, while Olaoluwa Ale-Daniel represented NIBSS.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, Avanage Nigeria Limited, and the Registrar of Patents and Designs were all not represented.
Oyetibo notified the court that the case was set for trial and that the plaintiffs’ witness was present and ready to testify.
However, Justice Dipeolu ruled that in the interest of justice, hearing notifications should first be issued and served on the absent defendants.
The judge also called parties’ attention to provisions in the Federal High Court Act that allow courts to facilitate amicable dispute resolution.
He then directed the parties to meet and make sincere efforts to fix the situation outside of court.
Counsel for the NIBSS stated that the payment system operator is subject to CBN regulatory scrutiny and cannot make unilateral decisions.
He claimed that NIBSS was opposed to establishing a monopoly, which he saw as crucial to the conflict.
Oyetibo, on the other hand, claimed that the plaintiffs had made significant investments in creating patented innovations that the defendants allegedly wanted to infringe.
He claimed that the disputed innovations belonged to the second plaintiff, and that the law granted him exclusive use of the inventions.
According to the senior advocate, the plaintiffs are still eager to reach a settlement.
In their amended statement of claim, the plaintiffs claimed that they developed multiple cash management systems beginning in 2011 to modernize Nigeria’s cash handling system and eliminate physical cash movement in the banking industry.
They categorized the inventions as Mobile Smart Deposit, Mobile Cash Sorting and Processing Device, PillarSalt Cash Supply Chain, Cash Recycling and Retail Cash Management Solution, and PillarSalt Cash and Terminal Management System.
They claimed the inventions were covered by three patent certificates obtained under the Patents and Designs Act.
The plaintiffs claimed that after disclosing data about their innovations to the defendants, the CBN issued instructions for the registration and operation of Bank Neutral Cash Hubs, which they claimed largely copied their patented techniques without approval or compensation.
They are asking the court to proclaim them the sole owners of the patented technology and prohibit the defendants from utilizing them without written permission.
They also want the court to order NIBSS to activate their PillarSalt Cash Management Solution on the Nigeria Central Switch within 30 days and to overturn the CBN’s Bank Neutral Cash Hub rules.
The monetary claims include ₦500m in general damages for alleged patent infringement against the first and second defendants, ₦200m against NIBSS for breach of a 2015 Non-Disclosure Agreement, and ₦97.8bn for alleged losses arising from NIBSS’s refusal to integrate the PillarSalt solution since December 2016.
In its updated defence, NIBSS denied infringing any patents or violating the Non-Disclosure Agreement.
It said that the plaintiffs sought exclusive rights to prevent other operators with similar solutions from accessing the national payment infrastructure, which would constitute an illegal restraint of commerce and the formation of a monopoly.
If settlement talks fail, Justice Dipeolu has scheduled a trial for October 15 and 16, 2026.
