Companies

SA’s Polo sues Kenya firm over trademark

case

Wardrobe Collections had applied to register its Classic Polo as a trademark, before LA Group opposed the move at the Registrar of Trademarks. FILE PHOTO | NMG

South African designer wear maker Polo has sued local manufacturer Wardrobe Collections Clothing Store for producing clothes that bear a name similar to its own and which is registered as a trademark.

The South African clothes manufacturer through its parent firm LA Group wants the High Court to bar Wardrobe Collections from registering the name Classic Polo as a trademark arguing that allowing the move would create confusion among consumers to the detriment of Polo South Africa.

Wardrobe Collections had applied to register its Classic Polo as a trademark, before LA Group opposed the move at the Registrar of Trademarks.

The Registrar of Trademarks while admitting that Polo (South Africa) and Wardrobe Collections’ Classic Polo are conceptually similar ruled that their resemblance was not enough to create confusion among consumers.

Johannesburg-based LA Group now wants Justice Francis Tuiyott to reverse the decision and allow it exclusive use of the word Polo in its clothing wear.

“The registrar erred by affording insufficient weight to the fact that LA Group has a registered Polo trademark. The effect of this registration is an entitlement to exclusive use of the word as a trademark in effect of the goods covered by the registration.”

“The registrar erred by affording no weight to the unquestioned fact that the respective marks would be used in respect of the same goods. It is thus not possible to discern between the respective parties’ goods on this basis,” Polo South Africa’s legal adviser Rae James says in court filings.