The South African Supreme Court of Appeal
("SCA") recently handed down an
important judgment that covers a lot of IP law. The procedural
aspects of Quad Africa Energy (Pty) Ltd v The Sugarless Company
(Pty) Ltd and Another are specific, complex and hard to
follow. We therefore feel that the best way to report on this
judgment is to focus on some of the major legal issues that were
discussed.
Facts
An Australian company, The Sugarless Company
("TSC"), sells confectionery under the
trade mark Sugarless in packaging that has certain design features.
TSC has a South African trade mark registration for the S SUGARLESS
logo in class 30 covering confectionery.
TSC appointed a South African company, Quad Africa Energy
("QAE"), as its exclusive distributor
for South Africa. When QAE launched a competing product under the
name Sugarlean in packaging with arguably similar design features,
TSC issued legal proceedings.
