‘Red Bull’ takes infringers by the horns via courts

Saturday, 31 December 2011 00:54 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By S.S. Selvanayagam

The Commercial High Court of Colombo issued Enjoining orders as well as Interim Injunction Notices against the entity Mathurata Agro Impex pursuant to an Intellectual Property lawsuit.

Commercial High Court Judge Gamini Amarasekera issued Enjoining orders against Mathurata for the infringement of Red Bull’s trademarks and unfair competition.

The Court issued Enjoining Orders preventing the Defendants of Mathurata Agro Impex from importing and/or distributing and/or marketing and/or offering for sale, the infringing product bearing the Plaintiff’s trade name ‘Red Bull’.

In an infringement action initiated on Intellectual Property Act through its lawyers SudathPerera Associates, Red Bull AG of Switzerland pleaded to the Court that as the registered owner of the trademarks ‘Red Bull,’ ‘Kratingdaeng’ and the ‘Double Bull Device,’ Red Bull is entitled to stop Mathurata Agro Impex from importing, distributing, marketing and selling the infringing ‘Kratingdaeng Red Bull’ product.

Plaintiff alleges the Defendant Company has been illegally importing the impugned product from sources in Thailand and Vietnam.

It contends such acts amount to trademark infringement and acts of unfair competition under the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003.

Plaintiff states the sales of the world famous Red Bull Energy Drink have grown considerably since the drink was first launched in 1987 climbing from just over one million unit sales in 1987 to over four billion cans worldwide in 2011.

Based on these figures, Red Bull Energy Drink has become the unchallenged market leader for energy drinks globally and in Sri Lanka, it states.

The authorised importer and distributor of the Red Bull Energy Drink product in Sri Lanka is Stassen Export Pvt. limited, it said.

Red Bull expends an enormous amount on marketing, advertising and promotional activities and on sponsoring athletes and events particularly with regards to extreme sports such as Formula One, Motorcycle Racing, and the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, it narrates.

Such global events attract very large audiences around the world via various media including television and online coverage and create tremendous brand value and reputation, it claims.

The acts of Mathurata Agro Impex are likely to cause damage to the Red Bull brand and dilute the goodwill and reputation associated with the Red Bull trademarks, it complains.

Counsel for the Plaintiff Red Bull argued that due to the tremendous goodwill and reputation and unmatched brand value associated with the Red Bull trademarks, the Kratingdaeng Red Bull product imported by Mathurata Agro Impex would be likely to mislead the public and lead the average consumer to mistakenly believe that both the Kratingdaeng Red Bull product and the Red Bull Energy Drink product emanate from the same source.

Having heard the submission of the Counsel, the Court was of the view that the aforesaid acts carried out by Mathurata Agro Impex were prima facie to be contrary to honest practices and constitute acts of unfair competition within the meaning of Section 160 of the Intellectual Property Act.

Romesh De Silva PC with Sugath Caldera and Manoj Bandara instructed by Sudath Perera Associates appeared for the Plaintiff.