جمهورية تنزانيا المتحدة

Kabushiki Kaisha Hitachi Seisakusho (d/b/a Hitachi, Ltd) v Aisha Mohamed Daud t/a Nuru Store, Commercial Case No. 2 of 2007, High Court of Tanzania, Commercial Division at Dar es Salaam

Mjasiri, J.

Date of Judgment: March 26, 2007

Facts

The applicant applied for a temporary injunction against the respondent to restrain him from infringing his registered trade marks "HITACHI" and "HITACHI DEVICE" and from passing off the defendant's products as "HITACHI" and "HITACHI DEVICE" products. The applicant also sought an order for the delivery of all counterfeit "HITACHI" and "HITACHI DEVICE" items. The applicant requested a search warrant to enter the premises of the respondent so that they could search for, inspect, photograph, and deliver into a safe place any counterfeit "HITACHI" and "HITACHI DEVICE" television sets.

Holdings

(i) Under section 50 of the Trade and Services Marks Act 1986 [Cap. 326 R.E. 2002], trade mark registration is prima facie evidence of the validity of the original registration. Section 31 gives exclusive rights to the registered proprietor, while section 32 governs infringement of the right.

(ii) Where an applicant is the registered proprietor of a trade mark and has spent a considerable amount of time and funds in registering and marketing the trade mark, there is a prima facie case, and there would be greater damage for the applicant if a temporary injunction is not granted.

Decision

Although there were sufficient grounds to grant the temporary injunction, there was no evidence to support the delivery of the counterfeit goods or the search warrant sought by the applicant.