Red Bull combats infringers in Commercial Court

The Commercial High Court of Colombo has issued Enjoining Orders and Interim Injunction Notices against Mathurata Agro Impex.

In an infringement action initiated through its lawyers, Sudath Perera Associates, Red Bull pleaded to the Court that as the registered owner of the trademarks “Red Bull”, “Kratingdaeng” and the “Double Bull Device”, Red Bull is entitled to stop Mathurata from importing, distributing, marketing and selling the infringing “Kratingdaeng Red Bull” product that it has been illegally importing from sources in Thailand and Vietnam.

Such acts amount to trademark infringement and acts of unfair competition under the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003. Sales of the world famous Red Bull Energy Drink have grown considerably since the drink was first launched in 1987 climbing from just over 1 million unit sales in 1987 to over 4 billion cans worldwide in 2011.

Based on these figures, the Red Bull Energy Drink has become the unchallenged market leader for energy drinks globally and in Sri Lanka.

The authorized importer and distributor of the Red Bull Energy Drink product in Sri Lanka is Stassen Exports Pvt Ltd.

Red Bull expends an enormous amount on marketing, advertising and promotional activities and on sponsoring athletes and events particularly with regards to extreme sports such as Formula One, Motorcycle Racing, and the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour.

Such global events attract very large audiences around the world via various media including television and online coverage and create tremendous brand value and reputation.

The acts of Mathurata are likely to cause damage to the Red Bull brand and dilute the goodwill and reputation associated with the Red Bull trademarks.

It was argued on behalf of Red Bull that due to the tremendous goodwill and reputation and unmatched brand value associated with the Red Bull trademarks, the “Kratingdaeng Red Bull” product imported by Mathurata would be likely to mislead the public and lead the average consumer to mistakenly believe that both the “Kratingdaeng Red Bull” product and the Red Bull Energy Drink product emanate from the same source.

The aforesaid acts carried out by Mathurata were found by the Court to be contrary to honest practices and constitute acts of unfair competition within the meaning of Section 160 of the Intellectual Property Act.

Red Bull’s case was supported by the President’s Counsel, Romesh De Silva, together with Sugath Caldera and Manoj Bandara, as instructed by Sudath Perera Associates.

Commercial High Court Judge Gamini Amarasekera issued Enjoining Orders against Mathurata for the infringement of Red Bull’s trademarks and unfair competition.