Golden Guinea Breweries Plc has won an eight-year-long N10 billion suit against International Breweries Plc and Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev).
The Umuahia Abia State-based brewer had approched the Federal High Court in 2016 demanding general damages in the sum of N10 billion from Pabod Breweries Limited, a company which AB InBev has a controlling equity stake, saying Pabod infringed on its trademark for the production of Eagle Stout.
Justice Stephen Dalyop Pam of the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt Division, ruled on March 6, 2024 after hearing Omolola Aderolu of Johnson Bryant on behalf of Golden Guinea Breweries Plc and S. Nmor for the defendants.
In a four-page court judgment seen by BusinessDay on Thursday, the Federal High Court granted, among others, that Golden Guinea Breweries Plc, as proprietor of the trademark ‘Eagle Stout’, registered as No. 21153 in class 32 at the Nigerian Trade Marks Registry Abuja, and is entitled to an exclusive use of the mark for the production, sale and distribution of the product in the Nigerian market.
