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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