Man mistaken for tech expert to sue BBC over footage royalties

afr.com:

London | The BBC is to be sued by a man interviewed in a case of mistaken identity over a row about royalties.

Guy Goma became an internet sensation after staff at the UK’s public broadcaster confused him with a technology expert due to be interviewed about the threat of online music to the industry.

Guy Goma claims he received no payment for the 2006 interview on the BBC, despite it being viewed millions of times in the year since. 

Mr Goma had arrived for a job interview with the corporation’s IT department when he was ushered into the BBC news studio and quizzed about a legal battle between Apple computers and the Apple Corps record company.

A bemused-looking Mr Goma answered the questions put to him by the journalist, sharing his thoughts on the future of online music, with the clip of the amusing encounter going viral.

But the 54-year-old computer technician has claimed that he has received no payment for the 2006 interview on BBC News 24, despite it being viewed millions of times over the past 17 years.

Mr Goma has claimed in an interview with the video series Accidental Celebrities that he should be entitled to some of the royalties because the BBC has profited from the clip.

When asked if the BBC had contacted him since the blunder, Mr Goma said he had contacted them but had had no response.

He said: “I am going to go to court because of the money they made from it. They have been using it for nearly 20 years with no penny to me.

“When I see that they are paying people millions here and there, that clip made them richer.”

Mr Goma also teased that he was writing a book with the working title of Wrong Guy.

He was waiting in the BBC’s main reception in west London while music expert Guy Kewney was in another area