A trademark wrangle between a local firm Ke Nako Media and Zimbabwe Publishing House (ZPH) has spilled into the courts, as they fight for the use of the magazine name Parade or The Parade. Report By CHARLES LAITON SENIOR COURT REPORTER
The wrangle started last Wednesday when ZPH published the magazine and sold it on the streets of Harare despite the matter still being before the courts.
In the urgent chamber application filed on Thursday last week, ZPH is cited as the first applicant while Zimbabwe Media Commission and its chief executive officer as well as Registrar of Trademarks, are cited as second, third and fourth respondents respectively.
Ke Nako board chairperson Peter Gwaze filed the application through his lawyer Nelson Mashizha at the High Court seeking to bar ZPH from selling the magazines under the trademark in dispute.
The urgent application was prompted by an alleged defiance of High Court judge Justice Ben Hlatshwayo’s order barring both parties from using the trademark name before the matter was resolved by Registrar of Trademarks.
Hlatshwayo at first gave the parties an opportunity to discuss the matter and possibly find common ground, but no consensus was reached.
He then granted the order on December 7, after hearing submissions from both parties in his chambers from November 23-30 this year.
In his application Gwaze said: “What is important to note is the fact that the first respondent (ZPH) has proceeded to publish its magazine on December 13 while there is an existing court order which is yet to be implemented.
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“The court order contents clearly show that pending the decision of the fourth respondent no one between applicant and first respondent can publish a magazine called Parade or The Parade. The first respondent has taken the law into its own hands and is clearly determined to be a law unto itself.”
Gwaze said the publication of the magazine by ZPH was tantamount to trademark infringement as it had used Ke Nako’s registered trademark as a title of its magazine. The matter is set to be heard by High Court judge Justice Hlekani Mwayera.
