COSCHARIS (GH) LIMITED VS SADINA GHANA LIMITED
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
- HER LADYSHIP JUSTICE SOPHIA ROSETTA BERNASKO ESSAH (MRS.)
Areas of Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- Civil Procedure
2016
HIGH COURT
GHANA
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Plaintiff, a distributor of ABRO products in Ghana, filed a lawsuit against Defendants for trademark infringement and passing off ASPRO masking tapes as ABRO masking tapes, leading to a decline in Plaintiff's sales. The Defendants failed to defend, resulting in an interlocutory judgment in favor of the Plaintiff. The court awarded general and punitive damages to the Plaintiff and ordered the destruction of the infringing tapes.
Plaintiff herein a company engaged in the importation and distribution of various products in Ghana commenced the instant action against the Defendants claiming the following reliefs:
1. General Damages for infringement of the Plaintiff’s trade mark.
2. Punitive damages for passing off masking tapes not of the Plaintiff as that of the Plaintiff by the use of the label and name ASPRO, as well as the Plaintiff’s logo and the similarity in packaging.
3. An order of injunction to restrain the Defendant from passing off the ASPRO masking tapes as the Plaintiff’s ABRO masking tapes.
4. An order for the delivery up and destruction of all the ASPRO tapes, the packaging, and material used by the Defendant, the use of which would be an infringement of the foregoing injunction.
Plaintiff alleges that they are the sole agents, importers, and distributors of ABRO products manufactured by ABRO INDUSTRIES INC (US) and that they are the registered trade mark holders of the ABRO class of products in Ghana.
That the ABRO products have a worldwide reputation for their quality.
That one of the products imported and distributed by the Plaintiff is the ABRO masking tapes.
That on or about the beginning of 2015, they noticed a drastic reduction in the sales volume of the masking tapes.
That after strenuous investigations, they noticed the presence on the market of masking tapes labeled ASPRO and packaged almost exactly as its masking tapes.
That its investigations led it to the Defendant’s shop at Tudu, Accra, where several boxes of the ASPRO masking tapes had been displayed and were openly being sold to the public as the ABRO masking tapes.
That the boxes of the Defendant’s ASPRO masking tapes have the Plaintiff’s registered company logo on them.
That the Plaintiff’s officer went to the Defendant's shop and specifically asked to purchase ABRO masking tapes and was supplied with a box of ASPRO masking tapes.
That the Defendant’s masking tapes, which it passes off as the Plaintiff’s, are of poor quality as compared to the Plaintiff’s.
That the Defendant’s products, by reason of the similarity with the Plaintiff’s masking tapes, are likely to be taken and have, in fact, been taken by the unsuspecting trading public as the Plaintiff’s masking tape.
That the Defendant’s conduct in deliberately passing off its inferior product as that of the Plaintiff is an unlawful infringement of the Plaintiff’s trade mark and the goodwill and reputation enjoyed by the ABRO brand