MONROVIA – Ghanaian actress, Juliet Ibrahim and other judges for “Most Beautiful Girl in Liberia” beauty pageant have arrived in the country for the event which is supposed to take place at the Ministerial Complex Saturday evening, sadly, it might not go on as planned.
The Commercial Court at the Temple of Justice has issued a Writ of Preliminary Injunction on the organizers of the event, Wee-Care Africa and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to refrain from the use of “Most Beautiful Girl in Liberia” as it is the intellectual property of CT.COM Liberia, which has sued the two entities for damages for wrong for the unauthorized use of intellectual property.
CT.COM in its complaint to the Commercial Court stated that it is the owner of the trade mark “Most Beautiful Girl in Liberia” – a franchise it duly sought from the Liberia Intellectual Property Office (LIPO) for a period of 10 years beginning 2017.
According to CT.COM, having seen flyers and posters with its trademark inquired the idea and the motive behind the “unauthorized” use thereof by writing Wee-CARE Africa notifying them of the wrongful use of its franchise and requesting a roundtable meeting on the way forward. Said request was, however, ignored, according to the complaint.
CT.COM then on November 4, 2019 wrote LIPO informing the body of the illegal use of its trademark and franchise by Wee-Care Africa and requested appropriate relief consistent with the LIPO Law of 2016. In response to its letter, LIPO on November 27, 2019 disclosed that Wee-Care Africa had requested the use of the trademark “Most Beautiful Girl in Liberia” for an upcoming event but was informed that a franchise with the same name had already been duly registered by CT.COM Liberia. CT.COM Liberia was then advised by LIPO to seek practical means by court action to enforce its rights.
The complaint further stated that CT.COM informed the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, being the regulator for the issuance of permits for the hosting of pageants in Liberia, to abandon the illegal and untheorized use of its trademark or face legal action. The Ministry, according to the complaint refused to take appropriate actions to protect and respect CT.COM intellectual property rights under the Liberia Intellectual Property Law of 2016.
This, CT.COM viewed as “counter-productive, inequitable and against the sport of coordination amongst government agencies, especially so when the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism is a member of the Board of Directors.”
“The Defendants have caused Plaintiff enormous expenses ranging from the hiring of a legal counsel to the filing of this action of damages for wrong for the unauthorized use of intellectual property before this court,” the complaint stated.
CT.COM is claiming US$10,000 for unnecessary expenses incurred and punitive/exemplary damages in an amount of US$5,000 for the defendants wrongful and illegal conduct.
Based on the complaint, Associate Judge of the Commercial Court, Chan-Chan A. Paegar, on December 20, 2019 issued a Writ of Preliminary Injunction to restrain, prohibit and enjoin Wee-Care Africa from further producing flyers and posters bearing the trademark “Most Beautiful in Liberia”.
The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism has also been ordered by the Court to take necessary and appropriate action to stop Wee-Care Africa from further use of the trademark pending the final determination of the Action of Damages for Wrong of the unauthorized use of intellectual property.