Uniworld Teas (Pvt) Limited, who have been issued summons by the Commercial High Court to appear on August 8 regarding alleged infringement of the Intellectual Property Law (IPL) in using the ‘Baktat’/’Alice’ trademark of Sindbad (Pvt) Limited to export tea to the German market says, it will go to courts against the plaintiff which in this case is Sindbad (Pvt) Ltd. for defamation.
Managing Director Uniworld Teas, Bede Fernando said, the company has not been informed of the interim injunction issued by the Commercial High Court prohibiting it from exporting tea packets to Germany.
“We heard about a case been filed against us in court but we have not received any such order from court so far and we totally deny the allegations levelled against our company which has an unblemished reputation as a leading tea exporter in the country,’ Fernando said.
He said that Uniworld Teas will sue the plaintiff for tarnishing the image of the company by publishing defamatory articles in the media.
“We are the fourth largest exporter of tea in the country accounting for over 11 million kgs a year. The buyer of our teas is with us and we are prepared to defend the good name of the company against bogus allegations,” Fernando said.
Located in Mulleyriyawa, Uniworld Teas export s over 10,000 metric tones of tea with an annual turnover of over US $ 25 million and isplaced among the ‘Top 10 Tea Exporters in Sri Lanka.
Sindbad (Pvt) Ltd. Chairman M.C.M. Zarook said that he has photographic evidence to prove that UniworldTeas is using its trademark to export to the German market.
“I came to know that Uniwaord Teas was using our trademark but I needed to make sure it was our trademark. A 40- foot container amounting to around US$ 44,000 worth tea was exported to Germany by this company using our trademark,” Zarook said.
He said Sindbad has been exporting value added bag and packeted tea since 1989 to Germany with a volume of over 800,000 kgs (800 tonnes) a year.
“ So far, Sindbad (Pvt) Ltd. has bagged four accolades at the Presidential Awards and 12 at the National Chamber of Exporters Awards,” Zarook said.
The Commercial High Court issued an interim injunction on July 25 prohibiting Uniworld Teas (Pvt) Ltd. from exporting tea packets to the German market with the ‘Baktat’ trademark and infringing Sindbad (Pvt) Ltd., the plaintiff’s (Sindbad (Pvt) Ltd.,) rights in respect of the trademark.
Sindbad (Pvt) Ltd. in its plaint had submitted to the Court that its business was specialised as an exporter of quality Ceylon Tea to markets in the United States, Europe and the Far East and that they have managed to create a niche market for bags and packeted tea.
The plaintiff had also stated that the ‘Baktat’ trademark is an inherently distinct name and Uniworld Teas had no reason to use such a name other than to piggy back on the goodwill of the trademark to mislead the public.