This archive report was first published on 19 October 2019.
Kipchumba Murkomen Warns Eliud Kipchoge Against Suing NRG Radio ¶
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has advised Eliud Kipchoge against taking legal action against NRG radio over breach of brand rights. Murkomen slammed lawyer Donald Kipkorir on Twitter for taking 'unnecessary' legal action against NRG Radio on behalf of marathoner Eliud Kipchoge and misleading the world record holder.
NRG radio was served with a demand letter over breach of brand rights, copyright, trademark rights, and privacy of Eliud Kipchoge. Lawyer Donald Kipkorir had faulted the station for using Eliud's name for commercial gains without legally acquiring the rights. NRG had changed their name to Kipchoge Radio from NRG in a similar fashion that Mpesa changed to Eliud in their personalized logo.
The audio-visual station then ran a series of shows using Kipchoge's name to promote them. The last straw was the i8 challenge, where the station used its presenters and comedian Eric Omondi to run a promotion that would give the BMW i8 owned by the station's owner Eric Mulei to Eliud if their Instagram page hit 1M followers in 24 hours.
Lawyer Donald Kipkorir demanded that NRG expunge Eliud's name, images, and any other reference to him from their platforms, which the station obliged.
Murkomen claims Kipkorir overreacted by sending a demand letter to the radio station over a situation that could have been resolved with one phone call.
On October 18, 2019, Murkomen tweeted, 'I would advise @EliudKipchoge against unnecessary legal battles with entities like @NRGRadioKenya merely excited with his fete. It waters down the good name of Kipchoge. Concerns raised shouldn't have been in the form of legal threats. A phone call is enough. He was terribly misled.'
Lawyer Donald Kipkorir quickly responded, warning the legislator to keep to his lanes and further asking him to act as the lawyer for NRG to argue his case. This led to an exchange of words between the two.
