The High Court will on 12th November decide who will use the Absa Trademark in Kenya after a businessman filed a petition for rights to the name.
Edward Njoroge, the director of the cleaning a sanitation company Absa Kenya Limited, which was established 13 years ago, wants the court to block Barclays Bank of Kenya from using the name.
The businessman founded a cleaning company in 2005, incorporated the name in Kenya, and owned exclusive rights to the trademark. Furthermore, Njoroge asserts that reserved the name with the Registrar of Trademarks.
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Njoroge describes his legal tussle as a typical situation of a multinational pushing its way past a local company. For instance, in a testimony, he alleges that he has been pushed to sell his domain and give up his business.
Nevertheless, he believes that he met all his statutory obligations for doing legal business in Kenya. Therefore Barclays bank should not use the Absa trademark in Kenya.
Absa: Same Name, Different Categories.
In response, the bank cites that the two names can co-exist as the businesses have exclusive use to different categories. For instance, Njoroge’s Absa Kenya Limited has rights to cleaning and sanitation services, whereas Absa Bank Limited offers financial services.
“The plaintiff lacks legal basis for its claim that Barclays has infringed on its mark ABSA because an action for trademark infringement cannot lie against a person that has duly registered its trademark, using it within the purview of the trademark registration conferred, that is, services or goods in respect to which the trademark was registered,” reads a Barclays’ affidavit from the case first hearing in 2018.
Additionally, the lender debunks Njoroge’s position, arguing that 12 other institutions have the name Absa. A statement from the bank’s secretary Paul Kinyanjui says the allegations lack a factual basis.
In June 2018, Judge Mary Kasango ruled that both companies continue using the name as the case continues. High Court’s Commercial Division will hear the case on November 12.
