Vetkoek fight drags on
Namib Mills will hear in mid-March whether the interim interdict it seeks will be granted.
The matter in which Namib Mills is seeking a court order that will temporarily restrict Bokomo from selling its vetkoek flour in its current packaging was delayed yesterday in the Windhoek High Court.
Judge Hosea Angula postponed the matter to 13 March, saying the pleadings had not yet closed.
He instructed Namib Mills to file their replying affidavits by 28 February and said Bokomo's heads of argument must be filed by 7 March.
He also instructed Bokomo to pay the wasted costs of the matter for 13 and 14 February, as it had filed documents late.
In its papers before the court Namib Mills accuses Bokomo of “appropriating” its brand equity by selling its vetkoek flour in packaging not only similar to that of Namib Mills but also using its mustard yellow colour. However, following the company's first application to interdict Bokomo from selling its vetkoek flour in its current packaging, Namib Mills got permission from the court to, in its words, “amplify its complaint” against Bokomo.
Namib Mills' commercial manager Pieter van Niekerk told the court that “in addition to the appropriation by Bokomo of the get-up of the Bakpro vetkoek flour product, Bokomo is now also using a very recently introduced get-up in respect of its remaining products in its flour range”.
This new packaging, he said, is “markedly different” from that previously used.
“The respondent's appropriation of the applicant's pack architecture can only be explained by an intention to appropriate benefit from the existing reputation vesting in the get-up of the Bakpro flour products, or to cause confusion in the market, or both,” Van Niekerk said.
The intention, he said, is for Bokomo to garner sales at the expense of Namib Mills.
Bokomo, by way of its CEO Hubertus Hamm countered Namib Mills by saying Bokomo had undertaken to change its packaging in phases, which began in 2017. He explained that research indicated that a consumer was more likely to purchase a flour product with a picture of the final product on the packaging, and they essentially cleaned up the lines of the design to make it more 'crisp'. A logo change was also on the cards.
He said a vetkoek mix had initially not been a consideration and did not feature in the design plans, but Namib Mills launched their product and Bokomo followed suit.
“As the Bokomo rebranding exercise was under way, it was decided the vetkoek flour packaging should be in keeping with the focus of the to-be-adopted rebranding.” Market research, Hamm said, indicated that consumers preferred the yellow colour.
He further explained that as the vetkoek flour was a new entrant into the market, there was no need to first run out of old packaging and that it made sense to launch it in the soon-to-be changed packaging of the other Bokomo products.
Tobias Louw from Theunissen, Louw and Partners appears for Namib Mills, while Daneale Beukes from Engling, Stritter and Partners appears for Bokomo Namibia.
YANNA SMITH
Judge Hosea Angula postponed the matter to 13 March, saying the pleadings had not yet closed.
He instructed Namib Mills to file their replying affidavits by 28 February and said Bokomo's heads of argument must be filed by 7 March.
He also instructed Bokomo to pay the wasted costs of the matter for 13 and 14 February, as it had filed documents late.
In its papers before the court Namib Mills accuses Bokomo of “appropriating” its brand equity by selling its vetkoek flour in packaging not only similar to that of Namib Mills but also using its mustard yellow colour. However, following the company's first application to interdict Bokomo from selling its vetkoek flour in its current packaging, Namib Mills got permission from the court to, in its words, “amplify its complaint” against Bokomo.
Namib Mills' commercial manager Pieter van Niekerk told the court that “in addition to the appropriation by Bokomo of the get-up of the Bakpro vetkoek flour product, Bokomo is now also using a very recently introduced get-up in respect of its remaining products in its flour range”.
This new packaging, he said, is “markedly different” from that previously used.
“The respondent's appropriation of the applicant's pack architecture can only be explained by an intention to appropriate benefit from the existing reputation vesting in the get-up of the Bakpro flour products, or to cause confusion in the market, or both,” Van Niekerk said.
The intention, he said, is for Bokomo to garner sales at the expense of Namib Mills.
Bokomo, by way of its CEO Hubertus Hamm countered Namib Mills by saying Bokomo had undertaken to change its packaging in phases, which began in 2017. He explained that research indicated that a consumer was more likely to purchase a flour product with a picture of the final product on the packaging, and they essentially cleaned up the lines of the design to make it more 'crisp'. A logo change was also on the cards.
He said a vetkoek mix had initially not been a consideration and did not feature in the design plans, but Namib Mills launched their product and Bokomo followed suit.
“As the Bokomo rebranding exercise was under way, it was decided the vetkoek flour packaging should be in keeping with the focus of the to-be-adopted rebranding.” Market research, Hamm said, indicated that consumers preferred the yellow colour.
He further explained that as the vetkoek flour was a new entrant into the market, there was no need to first run out of old packaging and that it made sense to launch it in the soon-to-be changed packaging of the other Bokomo products.
Tobias Louw from Theunissen, Louw and Partners appears for Namib Mills, while Daneale Beukes from Engling, Stritter and Partners appears for Bokomo Namibia.
YANNA SMITH
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