جمهورية تنزانيا المتحدة

Glaxo Group Limited v Agri – Vet Limited, Commercial Case No. 73 of 2002, High Court of Tanzania, Commercial Division at Dar es Salaam

Kalegeya, J.

Date of Judgment: September 17, 2003

Facts

Both the applicant and respondent are cough and cold tablet manufacturers. The applicant's trade mark consists of the expression "COFTA," while the respondent's trade mark is named "COFEX." The applicant claimed that the respondent’s packaging looked similar to the applicant's.

Holdings

(i) The first principle of determining the existence of a prima facie case of trade mark infringement is the trickiest principle among the three. Thus, the court has to exercise great care before making a finding because in disputes involving trade marks and business names—passing off of goods and infringements—there is a possibility of the court crossing over into the merits of the case.

(ii) Due to the difficulty of establishing a prima facie case with a probability of success without going into details of passing off or infringement, temporary injunctions should be granted sparingly in trade mark and business name disputes.

Decision

The respective packaging of "COFTA" and "COFEX" displayed elements of similarity and dissimilarity such that, in the absence of further evidence, it was difficult at that stage to determine if the applicant had a high probability of success.