United Republic of Tanzania

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. v Target International (T) Ltd., Commercial Case 60 of 2019, High Court of Tanzania, Commercial Division at Dar es Salaam

Fikirini, J.

Date of Judgment: April 27, 2021

Facts

This is a ruling on two preliminary objections raised by the defendant. The first question is whether this court has jurisdiction to hear the suit. The second question is whether the plaintiff has legal standing to sue. The defendant claimed that the plaintiff’s claim was primarily about the alleged importation of counterfeit marks and/or offending goods, which fell under the original jurisdiction of the Chief Inspector as per Part IV of the Merchandise Mark Regulations, Cap. 85, 2018 R.E. 2002. The plaintiff argued that the dispute was of commercial significance based on the Trade and Service Mark Act, not the Merchandise Mark Regulations. On the second objection, the defendant claimed that the plaintiff was not the owner of the trade mark at dispute. This was a question of fact, not of law.

Holdings

(i) Under Rule 3 of the Commercial Court Rules, a civil case involving a matter of commercial significance includes any claim arising out of a transaction of trade or commerce. While the Merchandise Mark Act and Regulation is subject-specific legislation, its remedies are limited to purely criminal in nature. The Trade and Service Mark Act covers civil remedies that the plaintiff seeks. Furthermore, the Merchandise Mark Regulations show that submission to the Chief Inspector’s jurisdiction is not mandatory.

(ii) Preliminary objections are not valid to dispute issues of fact. Since it requires the adducing of evidence to prove whether the plaintiff was not the registered owner of the "HIT" trade mark, a preliminary objection is not the correct stage to prove that the plaintiff is without standing.

Decision

The court has jurisdiction over this commercial case. Both objections were overruled and dismissed with costs.