TV channel suing Teazers
2009-11-30 21:06
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Cape Town - Afrikaans entertainment channel kykNET on Monday revealed that it is suing strip club chain Teazers for using the channel's name on billboards to advertise their services.
According to a letter issued by kykNET attorneys, Teazers' unauthorised use of "kyk net" amounts to trade mark infringement in terms of Section 34(1)(a) of the Trade Marks Act, and is "also likely to take unfair advantage of, or be detrimental to, the distinctive character and repute of our client’s well known KYK NET logo trade mark".
Teazers owner Lolly Jackson said it was ridiculous that he is being sued because he never had the channel in mind when making the billboard, and that the whole aim of the advertisement was to cater to the Afrikaans market.
"The rule at Teazers is that you can look and but can't touch, and hence the slogan 'kyk net', it's not related to the channel in any way," said Jackson.
kykNET's attorney's also said that the channel had spent considerable time, money and effort in promoting its business and services under the logo trademark, and therefore they had obtained common law rights to the trademark.
'Free publicity'
But Jackson said the Afrikaans channel is looking for "free publicity".
"If they want the billboard changed so much, fine I will do so, I will then just call it 'net kyk'. Imagine if I had said 'Teasers is OK, come check it out', would OK and Checkers supermarkets sue me as well?
"This is all so ridiculous," said Jackson.
Marketing and publicity for manager kykNET Haddad Viljoen said that they instructed their lawyers to sue because they needed to protect their brand.
"It’s an infringement of our brand, kykNET is a family channel and we want to protect its reputation. The worst part is that the billboard is right in front of our Rivonia offices," said Viljoen.
kykNET has given Jackson until the Friday, 11 December 2009 to remove all infringing billboards which it feels may be similar to its logo.