Issue 056 | A Judgement Worth It's SALT?

Not much IP comes out of Grahamstown (not much of anything does!). So it was with some trepidation that I read a recent trade mark judgment of the Eastern Cape High Court. But apart from the odd confusion between infringement and passing off (it could happen to anyone!), and the fact that it's peppered with unwarranted attacks on the Soutie language – the one blue was 'more darker' the other, the two get-ups were 'startling similar' - it's actually not that bad. The facts: a company called Royal Salt has a salt brand called SEEPO. The product's been around since the 1960s, and for most of that time it's been sold in a predominantly orange get-up. The product's particularly big in the Western Cape, where it has a 60-70% market share, and the trade mark registration goes all the way back to 1975.