Zaabu has watching with envy while Ssekabanja's Shoe polish “Shinny Bigfoot” is bringing in big money and then started to imitate the same shoe polish because she needs some of his Ka –Money. So, she has got the same cans for packaging shoe polish and even printed Ssekabanja's labels and seals for his shoe polish tins.
When Ssekabanja found out, he was not happy about it but thought it would not affect him until he noticed that his sales had started to drop. Now he wants to deal with Zaabu but before he shows her his ‘true colours’, he wants to know if there is a legal way of her copycat ways.
WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?
By law, when you find out that someone has been doing things such as copying your business (this is called passing off), you can take the following steps to make them stop.
1. A warning
Once Ssekabanja realizes that this behaviour may impact his business and reduce his income, then he has legal cause to take action against Zaabu. Ssekabanja can start off by giving a warning to Zaabu in writing demanding that she stop copying his shoe polish and to stop any sales of any stock that she may still have with her.
This demand letter (showing an intention by Ssekabanja to sue Zaabu) would also give him the basis to go to court because of her failure to stop as a different step.
2. Sue Zaabu
If someone is copying your work or products, and you tell them to stop but they don't listen, then you can go to the court for help. The court will listen to your case and decide if the person is doing something wrong by copying your work or products.
If the court decides that the person is indeed copying your work or products, they will punish that person and make them stop doing it. This is called "liability of passing off."
The court may order that Zaabu compensate Ssekabanja and order her to also stop the copycatting in addition to destroying any of the remaining shoe polish.
📷: Unsplash
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