Justice Lewis Allagoa of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has adjourned till September 22 proceedings in the logo dispute suit between Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Ltd and Rite Foods Ltd over their respective energy drinks.
The judge fixed the date for hearing of all preliminary applications in the suit marked FHC/L/CS/92/2021.
Both firms are locked in legal battle over alleged similarities between the ‘lion’ logos of their respective drinks.
Rite Foods filed the legal action against the NBC on February 9, 2021, asking for an order of the court to restrain NBC from further promoting its Predator Energy drink in the Nigerian market.
It claimed through its counsel, Mr. Muyiwa Ogungbenro, that Predator’s lion insignia bears a striking resemblance to that of Rite Foods’ ‘Fearless drink’.
But NBC denied any claim of trademark violation or passing off with its Predator Energy drink.
It has also prayed the court to set aside an ex-parte injunction obtained by Rite Foods against its continued promotion of the Predator Energy drink.
It further asked the court to dismiss Rite Foods’ committal application brought against NBC’s Managing Director, Mr. Matthieu Seguin, for alleged disobedience to the interim order.
The suit was formerly before Justice Chukwujeku Aneke, who has been transferred out of Lagos.
NBC’s counsel, Mr. Mark Mordi, had told Justice Aneke that Rite Foods’ applications were brought malafide and were without merit as the suit lacked a firm ground to stand in law.
He contended that the Predator logo had been in existence and in use in many markets outside of Nigeria even prior to the launch of Fearless by Rite Foods in the Nigerian market.
