[imagesource: Polo SA]

When the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled on the long-running trademark dispute between Polo South Africa and Ralph Lauren earlier this year, we thought that was the end of that.

The SCA ruling overturned a previous high court ruling which found the South African trademark should be revoked.

Polo South Africa, founded in 1976, owns the local trademark rights to the word “Polo” and the horse motif.

Ralph Lauren launched its Polo brand in 1967, and an agreement spanning back to the 1980s means the global brand only sells cosmetics and perfume products featuring the Polo logo in South Africa.

In a nutshell, you may have been buying what many have dubbed a ‘knock-off South African wannabe Polo brand’ instead of the real deal from Ralph Lauren.

The major difference to look out for involves which way the horse (or pony) is facing. Ralph Lauren’s actual, legit Polo clothing sees the pony facing left and in South Africa, ours faces to the right.

Up top, that’s the Polo South Africa logo. Below is Ralph Lauren’s Polo logo:

Image: Ralph Lauren

So what’s the latest? For that, we go to IOL:

Since that landmark ruling, both sides have disagreed about exactly what the SCA ruling meant.

In August, LA Group managing director brands Mark Oliver released a statement to customers which said in part that Polo South Africa was delighted that its Polo trademarks had been recognised by the SCA.

Oliver said: “We assure you that we will do whatever is required to protect and secure the goodwill and reputation associated with our Polo brand.”

The US Polo Association (USPA) was not impressed by the statement or the wording.

Andrew Robinson has now stated that the dispute is not over and that SCA ruling applies only to “the cancellation of 46 of LA Group’s trademarks”.

Robinson said an application to the high court in Cape Town is due to be heard next month.

All this to do with a horse facing one way and then the other on an item of clothing, hey?

[source:iol]