Companies

Company denies Polo trademark breach

case

Jo’burg-based LA Group is accusing Kenya’s Wardrobe Collections. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Local fashion retailer Wardrobe Collections has denied breaching Johannesburg-based LA Group’s trademarks by supplying clothes labelled Classic Polo, which the South African firm says is too similar to its Polo brand.

Wardrobe Collections says that the name Polo is descriptive of some of the shirts it supplies, hence it cannot be barred from using the name.

The local firm adds that the name Polo has been successfully registered by various unrelated companies around the world as it cited the co-existence of Polo by Ralph Lauren and US Polo alongside LA Group’s Polo.

Wardrobe Collections has also revealed that Classic Polo branded apparel is owned by India’s Royal Classic Mills which has subcontracted the Kenyan firm as distributor.

READ: SA’s Polo sues Kenya firm over trademark

But LA Group says Wardrobe Collections had no right to register Classic Polo as a trademark as the Kenyan firm does not own the brand.

The South African firm adds that the existence of other Polo brands in other countries is irrelevant to its current standoff with Wardrobe Collections.