Court rules on battle for use of names by organisations in dance competitions
|Published
A court has ruled that DanceSportSA must also refrain from organising any dance competition under the name DanceSport South Africa. Picture: African News Agency (ANA)
Pretoria - The battle of dance competitions unfolded in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, with the SA Dance Foundation saying it is the custodian of dance competitions in the country.
The foundation said DanceSportSA was stepping on its toes and infringing on its trademark by using the words “dance sport” in its name.
The court ordered that DanceSportSA president Thabo Phiri must refrain from using the name DanceSport South Africa. They may also not present themselves as the custodian of dance in South Africa under the name DanceSport South Africa.
Phiri and DanceSportSA must also refrain from organising any dance competition or championship at provincial or national level with regard to the genres ballroom, Latin, freestyle, disco, hip hop, wheelchair, disabled, traditional and social dance style under the name DanceSport South Africa, the court ordered.
Phiri and DanceSportSA opposed the application and argued that the organisaion was recognised as the custodian of dance in South Africa by both the South African Sport Confederation, Olympic Committee and the World DanceSport Federation.
The foundation argued that Phiri and DanceSportSA were imitating their trademark to gain advantage, and said there was reasonable likelihood that members of the dance fraternity and the general public may be confused into believing that its business was connected with that of the applicant.
According to the foundation, it has the right to organise championships and national dance sport competitions of ballroom, Latin, freestyle, disco, hip hop, wheelchair, disabled, traditional and social dance styles.
The main fight between the parties was the use of the words “DanceSport” and who was the custodian of dance sport in South Africa. It was said that the one who was the custodian of dance sport, was entitled to organise dance in South Africa.
The federation registered the trademarks DanceSport Championship and SA Open Dance Championship with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission in 2015.
It used to call itself the South African Dance & Dance Sport Council, while DanceSportSA was known as the Federation of Dance Sport South Africa.
Before the dispute, the applicant was responsible for all professional dancers in South Africa, while DanceSportSA looked after the affairs of amateur dancers.
In 1995 the parties came together to form a joint committee known as DanceSport South Africa. There were, however, disputes between them over the years and the joint committee collapsed over racialised issues.
DanceSportSA remained dormant for some time, and in 2006 a resolution was taken to dissolve the SA Dance & Dance Sport Council and move all its business into DanceSportSA, which has meanwhile changed its name to South African Dance Foundation – the applicant in this case.
Acting Judge Collin Matshitse said: “It is not in dispute that the applicant and the second respondent operate in the same industry of dance sport.”
The judge said the public and the dance community may be confused by the use of the word DanceSport by the second respondent and they may thus associate it with the applicant.
The court held that the applicant was the lawful holder of the DanceSport trademark, and had exclusive use of it for 10 years.
However, the judge said, the trademark registration did not prohibit anyone from using the words “Dance”, “Sport”, “South Africa” and or “Championship”.
The court is of the view that the applicant is only protected from the use of the words in the sequence stated in the certificates – that is, “DanceSport (as one word) Championship and South African Open Dance Championship.
Therefore the use of the word DanceSport South Africa by the second respondent is infringing upon the trade mark of the applicant, the judge said.
Pretoria News