The Federal Supreme Court refers a dispute over a trademark to the “Appeal”

The Federal Supreme Court referred a commercial dispute between two companies, over the rights to use the trademark, to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration, as it overturned a ruling that rejected one company’s lawsuit against another, affirming the legal protection of the trademark registered with the Ministry of Economy, and preventing its use by competitors.

In detail, a company filed a commercial lawsuit, demanding that its competitor destroy all packaging that carries its trademark, prevent it from using this trademark, or any similar trademark, or the method of manufacturing its products, destroy all publications in which that trademark is used, and oblige it to pay it an amount of two million dirhams. , in compensation for the damages caused thereto.

The plaintiff company said, in its lawsuit, that it manufactures dyes, paints, and their supplies, and some of its customers in another country complained to it about the poor quality of the product, so it assured them that its products would not be exported to them. After investigating the reason, it discovered that the defendant manufactures containers bearing its trademark and exports them to this country, so it filed a lawsuit. A report to the Public Prosecution.

Upon inspection, containers bearing the trademark owned by the plaintiff were seized, the defendant acknowledged the infringement, and the plaintiff waived the report, after the defendant company pledged not to export or produce containers bearing the same trademark without its approval, but it went too far in manufacturing them.

The court of first instance ruled to prevent the defendant from using the trademark, obliging her to destroy the containers bearing this trademark, and to pay 30,800 dirhams in financial and moral compensation, and to reject all other requests. Then the court of appeal ruled to cancel the first ruling, and ruled again to reject the lawsuit, and it did not This ruling was accepted by the plaintiff, so she appealed it.

The Federal Supreme Court ruled to uphold the appeal, clarifying that the owner of the trademark is the owner of the right to use it to distinguish the products or services designated for it, and using it in a similar service is considered an assault on the right of the trademark owner and harms him, and is unfair competition that generated a harmful act, requiring responsibility for its perpetrator. To compensate for the damage caused.

It indicated that the plaintiff was the first to be harmed by the defendant’s action, which copied her trademark on the packages manufactured by her, and which affected the rights granted to her by the certificate of registration of her trademark that she owned with the Ministry of Economy, as a result of that registration.

The court concluded that the appeal ruling did not adhere to this consideration, and did not consider the defendant’s use of a trademark owned by others, and the legal protection that the latter enjoys as a result of registering her trademark with the Ministry of Economy, which requires it to be overturned, provided that it be referred.

The appeal ruling did not notice that the defendant used a trademark owned by someone else