Legal row over 46664
2004-11-10 10:13
Cape Town - The Nelson Mandela Foundation threatened a coin company with court action this week over the use of Madiba's prison number.
The foundation argues it has the sole right to the number.
Investgold has been using the number 08600 46664 for eight months to market a coin sporting former president Nelson Mandela's face and name. This coin is minted in the UK and sold in South Africa.
According to Carl van Rooyen, Investgold's legal representative, the company already paid the foundation R300 000 for the sale of the coins, and they also pay 5% commission to the foundation for every coin sold.
The company applied to Telkom for the number months ago, and it was granted, as the 46664 number is not registered as a trademark, Van Rooyen said.
"There is now a serious disagreement between my client and the foundation, because they threatened to take us to court if we did not stop using the number. I am, however, 95% sure that a settlement will be reached," he said.
The foundation claims it has intellectual property rights to the 46664 number. They want to use it to encourage people to donate money for the battle against HIV/Aids and to recruit voluntary workers.
Don MacRobert, the foundation's legal representative, said the intellectual property rights of the name "Nelson Mandela", as it appears on the coins, as well as the number, belong to the foundation.
"The 46664 number is a trademark that belongs to the foundation. We applied for its registration, and active steps will be taken to protect it," MacRobert said.
Van Rooyen said the foundation has no legal grounds to use the number, because it has not been registered as a trade name and it was once a "prison number thought up by the state".
In terms of the settlement that will probably be reached, the number will be "given" to the foundation, and people who dial the number will be diverted to either the coin firm or the foundation.
MacRoberts was also hoping that a settlement would be reached.
He said the foundation did not want to make use of a 08601 number as callers would then have to pay for the call, and they are not in favour of that.