جمهورية تنزانيا المتحدة

Tanzania Cigarette Co. Limited v Iringa Tobacco Co. Limited, Commercial Case No. 12 of 2005, High Court of Tanzania, Commercial Division at Dar es Salaam

Kimaro, J

Date of Judgment: April 15, 2005

Facts

The plaintiff and the defendant are cigarette manufacturers. The plaintiff was the registered proprietor of several trade marks including, “Sportsman” and “Sweet Menthol” brands while the defendant trade marks were “Nyati Filters” and “Nyati Menthol”. The plaintiff filed a suit against the defendant, claiming that the defendant’s two trade marks were closely similar and resembled the plaintiff’s trade marks.

The plaintiff requested an order to cancel and expunge the defendant's trade marks and a permanent injunction to restrain the defendant from using those trade marks. The plaintiff requested a warrant to seize all the defendant’s goods bearing those offending trade marks and deliver them to the plaintiff for destruction. The plaintiff also requested damages, costs, and any other relief to be granted by the court. Pending hearing of the suit, the plaintiff applied for an order for temporary injunction to restrain the defendant from continuing to use the offending trade marks.

Holding

A temporary injunction cannot be granted if there are questions that cannot be determined without touching on the merits of the case, such as issues of resemblance of the trade marks, loss of goodwill, confusion in the identification of the applicant's products, quality of the products, and expenses involved in publicizing the applicant's trade marks.

Decision

The nature of the case which had been filed by the plaintiff was not suitable for an order of temporary injunction.