An Accra fast track high court has today Thursday February 26, 2015, placed an injunction on the well-publicized and much-anticipated maiden edition of the People’s Choice Awards Ghana.
Two event companies Spyder Lee Entertainment and Evolution International have been battling over the ownership of the name “People’s Choice Awards” which ended up in court.
Evolution International first registered the awards scheme as a trademark in 2011 and Spyder Lee Entertainment also registered the same name as a business name in 2012 both at the Registrar General's Department.
Speaking to Peacefmonline.com immediately after court processing this morning, Lawyer Alex Kojo Abban, lawyer for Evolution International, confirmed that an Accra fast track high court presided over by Justice Anthony Yeboah has placed a court injunction restraining both parties from using the name ‘People’s Choice Awards’ until the case is settled between both parties.
Lawyer Abban added that, he and his client-Evolution International didn't intend to reach the level of a court injunction, as they have tried as much as they could to settle this amicably with organizers of the upcoming event; Spyder Lee Entertainment but they have blatantly ignored and disregarded their efforts and gone ahead to organize the event.
As it stands now, Evolution International has filed a statement of claim and Spyder Lee has also filed their statement of defense. So the complainants have to file their reply if there is any reply and then they will file an application for directions before they appear in court for both complainants and defendants to present their cases for court to decide.
According to Lawyer Abban, Evolution International wrote a letter dated January 6, 2015 to Spyder Lee Entertainment and copied the Registrar General Department and also copied GN Bank which is the title sponsor of the event, alerting them of their ownership of the name but there was no reply or acknowledgement of receipt whatsoever, so they decided to seek redress in court.
By the court injunction, Spyder Lee Entertainment is expected to stop all radio and Television commercials, billboards, flyers and other means of communication geared towards publicizing the event until the court case is over.
“In fact they were supposed to put everything on hold when we sent an application and they were served, but they didn't do it and we also didn't want to cite them for contempt but now that it’s a court order, if they don’t comply they would be cited for contempt. For as long as the event has the name ‘People’s Choice Awards’, they can’t go on”.
The People’s Choice Awards Ghana 2015 was officially launched at a special stakeholder and media event at the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Accra, on Thursday, November 27 and the main awards night is scheduled to take place on Saturday 21st March 2015 at the Accra International Conference Centre.
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