Goya Foods Incorporated has requested that the Registrar of Trademarks be ordered to transfer ownership of the “Goya Olive Oil” trademarks to the corporation by a Federal High Court located in Abuja.
This is covered in the lawsuit filed under the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment’s FHC/ABJ/CS/883/2023 between Goya Foods Incorporated and the Registrar of Trademarks.
Foods and beverages sold in the US, Spanish-speaking nations, and Nigeria are produced and distributed by Goya Foods, Inc.
The company asked the court to grant additional orders in the June 23, 2023, suit that Nairametrics exclusively saw, to give positive effect to an existing consent judgment from the court on December 18, 2006, which ordered the respondent to promptly and without any formalities correct the “Goya Olive Oil” registrations in the Register of Trademarks and the Register of Designs in its favor.
To rectify a trademark is to make a correction or modification to it in the government’s Trademarks Register.
Modupe Justina Amodu said in an affidavit that the business acquired a consent judgment against Chikason Industries Limited, which it claimed was violating its ownership rights to “Goya” by marketing its own “Goya Olive oil” in Nigeria.
The court banned Chikason Industries from distributing Goya Olive oil, which violates Goya Foods Incorporated’s registered trademark no. 53558, as evidenced by the consent judgment entered in 2006.
Additionally, the use of the trademark “Goya” or any colorful copy of the mark “Goya” was prohibited by the federal government agency. This included the “Goya” bottle design and label, which are strikingly similar to the applicant’s exclusive Goya Olive Oil label.
The federal government agency had six months at the time to get rid of any printed or handwritten labels that violated the applicant’s trademark on packs, cartons, and bottles.
Additionally, the federal government agency was instructed to transfer to Goya Foods Incorporated all ownership and proprietary interests in the registered trademark Goya Olive Oil in the relevant classes.
Justice Inyang Ekwo was informed by the applicant’s attorney, Ade Adedeji, SAN, that the respondent had been asked to correct its register. Despite the court’s consent judgment ordering the correction, the applicant claimed that the respondent “is yet to effect the rectification till date.”
This correction is required to safeguard the applicant’s trademark and allow the applicant to finish the trademark assignment process for “GOYA OLIVE OIL” in classes 3,5, and 16. The applicant and their firm are extremely concerned about the subject topic. “Granting this application in the applicant’s favor is in the interest of justice.
With offices in New Jersey and across the country, Goya Foods Incorporated is a legally recognized corporation under the laws of the State of Delaware and the United States of America.
Its products are sold in Nigeria, and it maintains offices in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
According to court documents, it asserts that it is the legally registered owner of Nigerian Registered Trademark No. 53558, which is registered in class 29 of Schedule 4 of the Trademarks Regulations 1976 and pertains to edible oils (olive oil), prepared olives, and other items falling under the class. The trademark consists of the word “GOYA.”
