Trade: End in sight for rooibos dispute

Published Aug 5, 2013

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Trade

End in sight for rooibos dispute

A French company that was thought to be attempting to trademark the name “rooibos” has told the SA Rooibos Council (SARC) it only wished to incorporate the local tea’s name into another name, not to “steal” the whole name. SARC co-ordinator Soekie Snyman said initially the SARC thought the company wanted to “keep the name for themselves”, which would mean no one could trade in France under the name rooibos. Recently, the SARC met the deadline to submit a query to the French Trademark Authority after the French company submitted a trademarking application. Snyman said at the time the SARC was not aware of the intentions of the company and therefore submitted the query to protect the interests of the brand. “The company notified us after that they wanted a trademark that incorporates the name rooibos in it,” said Snyman. “There is nothing wrong if that’s what they’re trying to do.” She cited examples of South African brands that were doing the same thing such as Laager Rooibos and Freshpak Rooibos. – Zandi Shabalala

Electronics

Altron to set up new division

Allied Electronics (Altron) will create a new division named Altron Telecommunications, Multi-media and Information Technology to accommodate Allied Technologies (Altech) and its two subsidiaries, Bytes Technology Group and Powertech. Altech and Bytes continue as separate entities. Craig Venter, Altech’s chief executive, will lead the new division as Altron group executive. Altron chief executive Robert Venter said: “It has become necessary to streamline the operations and put forward the best possible combination of products and services to our clients.” There were opportunities for revenue enhancement and cost efficiencies, he added. Altron’s share price gained 0.21 percent to close at R19.30 on Friday. – Asha Speckman

Settlement

State to pay R1bn for land

The government had offered to pay R1 billion to settle a land claim against the MalaMala game reserve in Mpumalanga, the Sunday Times reported yesterday. “R1bn for a single land claim is a lot of money,” chief land claims commissioner Nomfundo Gobodo told the newspaper. The claimants, the Mhlanganisweni, are about 15 000 people in several villages about 5km from the Kruger National Park. The community believes R460 million is a fair price. The community or their families were forcibly removed from the land during apartheid. The current owner of the land, Michael Rattray, however wanted R936m, and another R70m for the improvements that were made. – Sapa

Rail

Prasa dismisses Fedusa claims

The Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) at the weekend dismissed claims by the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) about its fleet renewal plan. “Fedusa’s assertion that Prasa is unwilling to engage Transnet Rail Engineering on our rolling stock fleet renewal programme is totally misguided,” Prasa spokesman Moffet Mofokeng said. “Fedusa and its affiliate unions within Prasa are wrong to exaggerate the capacity of Transnet Rail Engineering or any of the industry players to meet our requirements.” Mofokeng said Transnet Rail Engineering had struggled with targets. – Sapa

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