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Nairobi Java House Ltd v Mandela Auto Spares Ltd 2015.

Case Law

Country

Country Location

Latitude: 1.5257584863641895

Longitude: 32.381670917978084

Case Outcome (Procedural)

Case Outcome (Disposition)

Keywords

Case Summary: The case was an appeal from the decision of the Registrar of Trademarks where the Registrar upheld a trademark application opposition by the Respondent namely "Java House and Java Sun". The court however held that the Registrar was to allow the registration of the trademark and another namely "Nairobi Java House". This is because the court found the marks to be visually dissimilar, there was no proof of likelihood of confusion, and that the trademark had been in use by the Appellant since 1999 in Kenya.

Case Significance: The court investigated the meaning of the contested name "Java" finding it to be a descriptive term used to refer to a business where coffee is served among others. It also found that the amount of time of usage of a mark by a party in a foreign country should also be considered in such cases.

Notes: The Respondent was the registered proprietor of the trademark "Cafe Javas" and thus opposed the application by the Appellant for registration of "Nairobi Java House" as the word "Java" was the Respondent's trademark.

Collection