Samples from a shipment of soap imported from China were sent overseas for testing after an injunction on February 6th, 2007 barred the importer from distributing 1,266 cartons of a soap bearing the name Lux, Stabroek News has learnt.
The 20-foot container containing the soap was imported by defendant Mohamed Niazi Khan of Multi Beverage Company, located at Cornelia Ida or 46-47 Hadfield Street. Plaintiff Unilever PLC of the United Kingdom with offices at Port Sunlight, Wirral, Merseyside, England, as the registered owners of the Lux trademark sought an injunction from the court. This matter remains in Chambers and further details could not be had.
Commercial Court Judge B.S. Roy had granted the injunction that prevented the importer from opening and distributing the contents of the container at John Fernandes Wharf.
The plaintiff’s lawyers contended that this alleged infringement of its registered trademark will cause irreparable damage to the plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation, unless the defendant’s actions were restrained by the court.
The containers were said to each contain 144,000, 100-gramme bars of soap, with the price on each carton stated as US$19. Unilever in an affidavit stated 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 arrived in Guyana on January 25.
