After being involved in a 9 year long legal battle, the Supreme Court of Appeal agreed with the High Court full bench that the TAKIS mark owned by Takis Biltong (Pty) Ltd and the TAKIS FUEGO mark owned by Grupo Bimbo S.A.B DE C.V are likely to cause confusion and/or deception amongst the public. The judgement of December 2023 was decided in favor of Takis Biltong, ordering that Grupo Bimbo’s TAKIS FUEGO trade mark registration is to be cancelled.  

After the celebrations of this mammoth success, the big question is… what next?  

As per the SCA court order, Takis Biltong was awarded costs of the SCA application, which is recoverable from Grupo Bimbo. However, Grupo Bimbo is refusing to pay, despite the SCA ordering it to do so.   

This forced Takis Biltong to recover the costs of the application by attaching Grupo Bimbo’s registered trade marks in South Africa. As Grupo Bimbo is an internationally based company with seemingly no tangible assets in South Africa, the only assets available to attach are its registered trade marks.  

Section 41 of the Trade Marks Act 194 of 1993 provides that a trade mark is an asset which is available for attachment to satisfy a judgement of any competent court within the Republic.  

As such, the requisite writ of execution was issued, and the Sheriff of the High Court attached the 89 trade marks registered in the name of Grupo Bimbo. The Trade Marks Office then records this attachment and the Sheriff of the High Court will then begin the process of selling the trade marks in a sale of execution in which the proceeds will be allocated towards recovering the outstanding legal costs. Any natural or juristic person may make a bid for the individual trade marks including possible competitors of Grupo Bimbo.  

Even though Takis Biltong received a favorable judgement from the SCA, goods depicting the TAKIS FUEGO mark are still available in retail stores in South Africa. Grupo Bimbo has claimed that the goods are imported to South Africa without its knowledge (ie. grey goods or parallel imports). Accordingly, Takis Biltong has now approached the individual third party retailers to cease selling the infringing products.  

Even though the path to this favorable judgement was lengthy and challenging, it was ultimately worthwhile. This case clearly highlights the importance of registering trade marks as it provides legal protection for brands and helps to safeguard companies’ intellectual property. Once a trade mark is registered, the brand owner is able to enforce its monopoly in South Africa, just as Takis Biltong has done.