A Grootfontein-based firm named Grootfontein Food and Beverage has been forced to withdraw its drinking yoghurt named Oshikandela after legal threats by Namibia Dairies that it owns the ‘Oshikandela’ trademark.
On Monday, Namibia Dairies’ managing director Gunther Ling told The Namibian that a possible infringement of their registered trademark Oshikandela has been brought to the firm’s attention, and said it was enjoying the attention of its legal representatives.
The Grootfontein Food and Beverage factory started production in May this year after a construction period of 18 months, the firm said in an email response to a query from The Namibian yesterday.
Capacity at peak production can be 500 000 litres per month, the firm said.
“Our brand is called ‘Frontier’, and we will produce the full range of dairy products. We can do fresh milk, but are currently constrained by supply agreements in place between farmers and other dairies in Namibia, limiting access to fresh milk for us,” the firm stated.
They also touched on Namibia Dairies’ claim that ‘Oshikandela’ is their registered trademark.
“A lot of confusion exists as the name was merely used by us to describe the product in one of our local languages. We believe that room exists for wrong interpretation, and have therefore decided to withdraw the descriptive name from our packaging. We will, however, continue to use the English description of ‘drinking yoghurt,” the firm said.
Grootfontein Food and Beverage said it will continue its main brand of ‘Frontier’, and use the English description for their product.
Asked how much the firm would spend on rebranding, the answer was: “Not a train smash for us. New labels are already in place, and as we just started out, not much has been spent on the labels, and our brand strategy of another choice remains in place.”
The firm employs about 80 people.
“The other dairies are well-established and have almost no domestic competition, making it very difficult for new entrants to enter the market,” the firm said.
