The Durban High Court has reserved judgment in the application for leave to appeal the ruling in the case between the ANC and the MK Party over the latter’s trademark.
The ANC filed an application seeking leave to appeal the high court’s previous ruling on the contestation around the MK Party’s name and logo.
It wants the court to be granted access to make its appeal application in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
During court proceedings on Thursday, ANC lawyer, advocate Gavin Marriott, said the MK Party is harming the party’s image by continuing to use its current name and logo.
Continued harm caused to the ANC
“For as long as the mark is continuing to be used, there is continuing harm. Trademark infringement does not go away because the election has passed,” argued Marriott.
“And I have demonstrated that the ANC’s uMkhonto weSizwe is well-known in South Africa and indeed globally.
“The first respondent [MK Party] has gone to some lengths to create a non-existing association between the ANC’s uMkhonto weSizwe and itself [MK Party].
“To this end, the MK Party’s vocal supporter [Jacob Zuma] drew a non-existent association between the ANC and the MK Party.
“This case has nothing to do with the 2024 elections. It is about the continued association between the MK Party and the ANC and its history.”
The MK Party lawyer, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, dismissed Marriott’s argument.
Argued Mpofu: “This application for leave to appeal with the greatest respect is dead on arrival. In any event, the nature of the relief sought is interdictory.
“Therefore, the harm that they have identified is confined to the pre-election period. You cannot now come to expand it in the SCA or any other court.
“It would be a tragedy to overburden any other court with this matter.”
The application was dismissed in April
In April, the same court dismissed the ANC’s application to prevent the MK Party from using its name and logo.
The ANC contended that the name uMkhonto weSizwe belonged to its heritage and intellectual property, but the MK Party argued that the former liberation organisation lacked ownership rights over the name and logo.
The ANC had approached the court in March, claiming infringement of the Trade Marks Act over the use of the name and logo associated with its former military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe.
Meanwhile, this week the ANC expelled Zuma as an ANC member after the party found him guilty through its disciplinary hearing process for his conduct on December 16, 2023, where he said he would campaign and vote for the MK Party in the 2024 national and provincial elections.
