Barclays Bank of Kenya (BBK) has won the first round of the case against a local company laying claims to its South African parent firm’s name, Absa, reports the Daily Nation.
High Court Judge Mary Kasango has declined to temporarily stop BBK from using the name Absa as sought by ABSA Kenya Limited, which is in court to permanently restrain Barclays from adopting Absa as a trade name in Kenya following recent changes in the bank’s ownership at the continental level.
ABSA Kenya will now have to await completion of the case to know whether Barclays will be stopped from using the name locally.
Justice Kasango in her ruling said that Absa Kenya has not proved that it will suffer irreparable injury if the orders are not granted, noting that the certificate of registration presented by the firm states that it cannot be used in legal proceedings.
“Accordingly the plaintiff’s Notice of Motion dated 5th April, 2018 is hereby dismissed with costs to the defendant,” ordered Justice Kasango in a ruling dated June 13.
‘Registration abroad’
The judge said that BBK presented a certificate that states ‘for use in legal proceedings or to obtain registration abroad.’
“It is such a certificate that the plaintiff should have presented to enable this court place reliance on it. The plaintiff did not,” noted the judge.
Absa Kenya, incorporated in 2005, says it reserved the name with the Registrar of Trademarks for exclusive use and that it has incurred huge financial losses since Barclays announced plans to rebrand.
But in its response, BBK says Absa Bank Limited (South Africa), a sister company, applied for registration of the name at the Registrar of Trademarks and was granted permission on September 20, 2016.
The bank argues that there is no conflict between the use of the name since the two firms obtained exclusive use in different categories.
