From KIKOY to “grown under the sun”

From KIKOY to “grown under the sun”

By Njuguna   Friday, April 18, 2008   No comments:

In response to the failed attempt by a British company to register the word KIKOY as a trade mark (earlier reported here, here and here ), a story in the Nation Newspaper has it that the government of Kenya is in the process of protecting the phrase “grown under the sun” as trade mark for marketing Kenyan products.

The slogan ‘Grown Under the Sun' was unveiled in Britain in July 2007 by Kenya's horticulture industry to market its fresh produce in UK. As a result of this initiative, as noted here, Kenya’s share of the European market grew from to 32% to 38%.

A search of the UK trade mark database shows existence of a community registered trade mark number E4549333 consisting of the slogan “NATURALLY GROWN UNDER THE CANARY ISLANDS SUN SINCE 1935” in class 31(Fresh fruits and vegetables) and 39(Distribution, transport, storage and warehousing of fruits and garden herbs of all kinds). The trade mark is in the name of JULIANO BONNY GOMEZ of Spain, the application having been filed way back in 2005.

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Kenyans celebrate Kikoi win

Kenyans celebrate Kikoi win

By Darren Olivier   Thursday, April 03, 2008   No comments:

Afro-Ip has learnt through this report and a telephone conversation with the ever helpful UK IPO that The Kikoy Company UK Limited's application in the UK for KIKOY has been deemed withdrawn through lack of filing of a Counterstatement (a form setting out a defence/response to a Notice of Opposition). The UK IPO letter confirming the withdrawal of the application was sent out on 20 March 2008. As is evident by the Daily Nation report, this is very welcome news for all concerned that exclusivity in the word KIKOY granted in favour of The Kikoy Company through a trade mark registration would have meant that users of the cloth termed "kikoi" may have infringed the registered trade mark, which covered clothing and other goods in class 25 of the International Classification.

The Afro-Leo actually doubts whether use of the word "kikoi" to describe kikois would have infringed the registered mark KIKOY (had it been registered) simply because Section 11 of the UK Trade Marks Act provides that a registered trade mark is not infringed by the honest use of a sign to describe goods or services. How else would one refer to kikois (which it appears everyone accepts as a generic term for a type of cloth or fabric, normally of Kenyan origin)? Afro-Leo is, however, surprised that the application for KIKOY slipped through the usually thorough UK IPO examination process, which would normally spit back a rejection letter for these types of applications stating something like "... the mark applied for is an obvious misspelling of a non distinctive/descriptive term for a type of cloth or fabric, and as a result is not registrable in class 25." He does wonder if the term "kikoi" is protectable as a cloth or fabric from Kenya in the same or similar way that "champagne" is protected for sparkling wines and if Kenyan law makes provision for such protection.

Traidcraft Exchange agreed to spearhead opposition to the application in the UK at the request of a Nairobi-based charity Co-operation for Fair Trade in Africa, according to the Daily Nation report. A previous report highlighting the controversy can be viewed here.

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