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COURT FINDS COMPANY GUILTY OF TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT

Al Yousuf Motors, the exclusive agents for Yamaha, have successfully filed a lawsuit against Motorbike Centre Co for infringing on the Yamaha brand name. The case unfolded when the plaintiff — Al Yousuf Motors...

— filed a lawsuit against Motorbike Centre, demanding a compensation of Dh3191800 for financial and moral damages resulting from the transgression on their exclusive trademark. They also demanded 9 per cent legal interest as well as confiscation of 47 Yamaha quad bikes in the defendant’s possession.

Al Yousuf Motors stated in the lawsuit that it came to their notice in March, 2004, that the Motorbike Centre had brought 44 Yamaha Banshee Quad Bikes, 350cc (priced at Dh748,000) to the country without referring to the plaintiff, who was the exclusive agent for the brand. Al Yousuf Motors’ defense council, Sameer Ja’afar, said that the trademark administration in the Dubai zone was informed about the matter and took action by filing the incident and warning the defendant against importing such products without referring to the exclusive agent. But despite the promissory note signed by them, they continued to bring in quad bikes with the same trade mark.

Therefore, Al Yousuf Motors had no other choice but to file a lawsuit demanding compensation for the resulting damages. The plaintiff had suffered a decrease in sales, the lawsuit stated, since they were forced to lower the unit price in order not to lose their customers to the other outlet.

Al Yousef Motors claimed it had lost an estimated Dh1, 989,000 which would have been its profit for the year 2003. In addition they also lost Dh2, 191,800 when they were forced to decrease the unit price of the bike to compete against the other company. They also demanded Dh1, 000,000 for moral damage, resulting from loss of credibility among their clients and the insult they had to suffer in the market.

Al Yousuf presented all the evidences as photographs, including photocopies of newspaper ads, in which the defendant announced the arrival of Yamaha bikes. The Motorbike Centre, however, denied all these charges on the grounds that evidence presented to the court have to be in the form of original documents and not copies. The defendant also said that they had imported the bikes not with any commercial intention, but for exporting them.

Meanwhile, the court ruled in favour of the plaintiff and declared Motorbike Centre guilty on the charge of transgression of the exclusive agency of the trademark ‘Yamaha’. The defendant was asked not to continue it in future. But the court rejected the compensation plea since the plaintiff was not able to prove damages and the figures were based on assumptions and expectations, rather than facts.