DOLCE AND BANANA COURT CASE

Interpreting the law is essentially a game, and in court the legal person who best plays the game wins the case.
Technicalities and loopholes in the law are abundant and the clever attorney more often than not find a way to win a case.

But the man in the street is often too intimidated by the threat of legal action and the costs of defending such an action.

But the law is fair.
If you can prove your case the court will rule in your favour.
Unless of course the judge was bribed. But that’s another story..

Let’s take the case of Dolce and Banana, a small business in Hout Bay that manufactures and sells hand made jewellery and accessories using local crafters and local materials, and has been operating since 1998.

Dolce and Gabbana, the Italian fashion house has taken the small Hout Bay business to court, demanding that they rebrand.
In a 300-page affidavit submitted to the Western Cape High court by Christiana Ruella, a board member of Gado, Dolce & Gabbana's holding company, D&B alleges
"The name Dolce and Banana makes a mockery of the well-known trademark, Dolce & Gabbana,"

Shop owner Mijou Beller immediately, at a cost of R10000.00, changed the shop’s name to …Banana.
‘We don’t have the money to fight them’ she said.
Now Dolce and Gabbana wants her to pay R100 000.00 of the R200 000.0 costs incurred by taking the case to court.

I would have fought them.
I would have gone to the high court and explained that I could not afford fancy advocates and I would have asked for permission to defend myself.

How does a shop that sells handcrafted jewellery made from beads and shells by local crafters ‘make a mockery of a well-known trademark?’

The Italian word ‘Dolce’ means ‘Sweet.’
Please do not tell me I am not allowed to call my brand Sweet and Banana.

Besides that, the name Dolce and Banana is not even original or exclusive to the Hout Bay Shop.

Among quite a few others, there is an organisation in Pennsylvania that raises awareness of diabetes called Dolce and Banana.
	In the University of Queensland’s Union Complex there is a yoghurt shop called Dolce and Banana.

And in China there is a label called Dolce and Banana that actually produces counterfeit Dolce and Gabbana stuff!

So why does Dolce and Gabbana not sue these people?
Because they know That in the US they will lose the case and in China they would probably get mysteriously karated..
That’s why.

Kader Khan