Rare trademark judgment in Zimbabwe

Managing IP is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Rare trademark judgment in Zimbabwe

Sponsored by

spoor-fisher-400px.png
jam-428094.jpg

IP judgments in Zimbabwe are unusual, says Chris Walters of Spoor & Fisher Jersey. So the recent Supreme Court decision in Cairns Foods v Netrade Marketing is welcome

Both companies in this case sell jam. Cairn Foods has a trademark registration in class 29 for a mark comprising the word Sun and a device of various fruits, whereas Netrade has a later registration in class 29 for the mark Royal Sun.

When Netrade used an unregistered logo featuring various fruits and the term Mixed Fruit Jam, Cairn Foods sued for trademark infringement and passing off. There was proof of actual confusion.

First instance decision

The first court held the marks were not confusingly similar. Inexplicably it said that Cairn Foods’ registration was simply a device (seemingly ignoring the word “Sun”). The plaintiff appealed.

Appeal court overrules

The appeal court looked to South African law for guidance and cited a number of cases that deal with issues such as the need to consider notional use, the notional consumer, and the general impression of marks.

Unsurprisingly the court overruled the earlier court’s decision that the plaintiff’s mark did not comprise the word “Sun”, describing it as “so grossly unreasonable in its defiance of logic as to attract interference on appeal”.

The approach should not be to conduct aforensic audit of the two marks... the law does not require the court to closely peer at the mark and the offending mark to find similarities and differences”.

The correct testis an assessment of the impact which the respondent’s mark would have on the average consumer … deception or confusion is a matter of first impression not an outcome of study”.

The result

There was both infringement and passing off. The court granted an injunction.

There is nothing ground-breaking here, but it is a welcome addition to African IP jurisprudence!

more from across site and SHARED ros bottom lb

More from across our site

The UK Supreme Court will hear another trademark case in Dairy UK v Oatly, this time centring on the registrability of regulated terminology
Law firm leaders explain how due diligence and AI-related advice are providing opportunities and how they navigate the associated challenges
More important FRAND decisions by the UK courts and a changing of the guard for Siemens’ IP team were among the top talking points this week
Operating profit decreased from £968,942 to £5,254, but the firm expects long-term investments to pay off for clients
One of the litigators expects that she’ll have to help clients navigate challenges posed by USPTO developments
Counsel explain what kind of ITC-related inquiries they’re getting from clients and why complaints at the forum were up in 2024
A ruling concerning a juicing machine, a tussle over a preliminary injunction and a new judge in Paris were among the top talking points this fortnight
John Squires has had a range of in-house and private practice experience, most recently in the IP group at Dilworth Paxson
President Donald Trump’s attacks on Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling should not go unchallenged
The combined entity, which is expected to offer IP services across Australia and New Zealand, will be called Jones Maxwell Smith & Davis
Gift this article