Justice BS Roy, in the Commercial Court, yesterday granted an injunction restraining an importer from disposing of a container of Lux soap from China which is suspected to be counterfeit
Justice Roy, sitting in Chambers, granted an injunction preventing importer and defendant Mohamed Niazi Khan, of Multi Beverage Company, located at Cornelia Ida or 46-47 Hadfield Street from opening and distributing the contents of the container at John Fernandes Wharf.
Plaintiff Unilever PLC of the United Kingdom with offices at Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, England through the law firm Cameron and Shepherd sought judicial relief by arguing that the soaps marked Lux in the container were counterfeit and were shipped from the Chinese port of Guangdong.
The plaintiff’s lawyers said this alleged infringement of its registered trademark will cause irreparable damage to the plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation, unless the defendant’s actions are restrained by the court.
The injunction restrains the defendant or agents of his from infringing the plaintiff’s registered Trade Mark No. 5463A. The injunction also provides for a maximum of two persons authorized by the plaintiff and one or four employees of Cameron and Shepherd, to enter the customs area of John Fernandes wharf or any other outbuildings of the defendant between 8 am to 6 pm to inspect and remove goods with the trademark Lux.
In addition, all packing, wrapping, labels, invoices and bills and other documents relating to the importation and sale of the said goods are to be lodged with the defendant within 24 hours of this order and placed with the plaintiff’s attorneys.
The matter was adjourned until February 14 at 11 am in the Commercial Court for further hearing in Chambers.
According to the ex-parte application, based on an affidavit sworn to by Josephine Whitehead of Cameron and Shepherd, Nick Hart of Unilever had advised the firm that on January 25, the Herm Kiepe – Voyage 9 arrived in Guyana from Kingston, Jamaica with a 20-ft container GLDU 2897660.
According to Whitehead, Hart said the container contained 1,266 cartons of soap bearing the word Lux and purporting to be goods manufactured by Unilever.
These cartons, it was said, each contain 144,000, 100-gramme bars, with the price on each carton stated as US$19. Multi Beverage Company is named as the consignee of the said goods. Whitehead said she had been informed by Unilever that the goods are counterfeit and were not manufactured by the company or any of its subsidiaries and in particular by Unilever China. Neither was permission or licence given to the defendant to manufacture the soaps.
It was also stated in the affidavit that the soap bearing the name Lux, in the said container, is manufactured in 100 gramme bars whereas the plaintiff does not manufacture soap in 100-gramme bars but in 125-gramme bars.
The affidavit also said that the container was originally shipped from the Chinese port of Yantian on December 26, 2006 and bound for Guyana.