Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) will be engaging the Guyana missions to take legal action against Bedessee Imports for using the ‘Demerara Gold’ brand to market sugar made in the Mauritius.
According to a Government Information Agency (GINA) press release, members of the Guyana Diaspora had informed the minister that Bedessee Imports Inc had been marketing the sugar as made in Guyana. The main panel of the packaging of the sugar is labelled ‘Demerara Gold’ which gives consumers the impression that it is genuine Demerara sugar. Persaud said “the name Demerara suggests geography and it goes back over 100 years” and this action by Bedessee constitutes deceit as consumers are being tricked into believing that the sugar is made in Guyana.
He said GuySuCo is taking an aggressive stance regarding the use of its ‘Demerara Gold’ brand. “This move by Bedessee goes against the corporation’s strategy of moving forward,” Persaud said, explaining that GuySuCo plans to offer packaged and specialty sugar from the Enmore packaging facility and it had recently sealed a contract in this regard. The company also plans to develop brands, especially the Demerara Gold brand as it looks to increase its presence in North America in the Caribbean.
According to GINA, it had been reported that Bedessee Imports Inc has a reputation for cunningly branding and packaging its products. The minister urged the Diaspora to be alert and not to support such misuse of the brand. “We are from here sending a message; we hope to get it on the internet and advertisements and let people be aware that this is not authentic Demerara Gold and that this is also deceitful advertising and the illegal use of a particular brand… we have to guard against this and be much more vigilant and this is where the efforts could be challenged,” he said.
The minister also said Bedessee had been contacted on the issue “which is not new as it has been going on for some time.” As regards GuySuCo copyrighting its brand, Persaud said over the years it has been engaged in having it registered to protect the brand. Notwithstanding those efforts “there have been some clever attempts by this company to give some legal coverage to the use of its name, in some instances the company has gone ahead, in some jurisdictions registered GuySuCo’s exact name …and when GuySuCo moved to register those products you find that already they have been registered,” he said.
