Justice Ayokunle Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos will on January 12, 2022, hear a suit filed by the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited (NBC) seeking to nullify the registration of the bottle design of Rite Foods’ Fearless Energy drink.

NBC is claiming in the suit that the registration of Fearless Energy’s bottle design was obtained by misrepresentation of facts to the Registrar of Patents and Designs.

According to the court processes filed by NBC, the statement of novelty filed by Rite Foods before the Registrar contained significant misrepresentations as Rite Foods had claimed that prior to its application for registration of the bottle design, energy drinks were not packaged in PET bottles in Nigeria.

Rite Foods had also claimed before the registrar that its bottle design had not been disclosed in any platform before the application for registration.

These claims, according to NBC, are false, given that PET packaging for some energy drinks such as Lucozade Sport and Lucozade Energy drink manufactured in Nigeria by Suntory Beverage and Food Nigeria Limited dates as far back as 2011 long before Rite Foods applied to register the bottle design of its Fearless Energy drink.

TodayNG