API Licensing In Nigeria

A U.S.-based software vendor, which provides financial analytics tools licensed its proprietary API to a local fintech startup. The API enabled the fintech company to integrate real-time financial data into its app for end users. A dispute arose when the software vendor alleged that (a) the local fintech start-up had exceeded the agreed-upon usage limits in the licensing agreement and; (b) the local fintech start-up was sharing data with unauthorized third parties. The fintech company countered by claiming that the agreement terms were unclear and that the vendor had unfairly terminated access, causing operational disruptions and customer complaints.

Approach & Outcome

In resolving the API licensing dispute, we (a) conducted a comprehensive review of the API licensing agreement to identify the relevant clauses on usage limits, fees, and data-sharing restrictions (b) advised on the need to engage forensic IT experts to analyze API logs to establish the claims of