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Parties secure protective order to govern use of information at trial
The Sugar that was objected to by Guyana
Judge Joan Azrack has agreed to a protection order being in place as it relates to the information which is used or raised in the US Court case involving the Guyana Government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Bedessee Imports among other litigants.
The Judge made the order last week Friday after a successful petition by the parties involved.
In the proposal to the judge which was subsequently approved the “parties recognise that proprietary and confidential business or governmental information, politically sensitive information, and other matters which could cause competitive, governmental, or political injury or damages if such information were disclosed, may be revealed during discovery and in documents produced, deposition testimony, answers to interrogatories, responses to requests for admission, any other information produced by or on behalf of any party to this lawsuit or third party in response to discovery conducted in this case, and any motions, briefs or other filings with the Court incorporating such information.”
It is for those reasons that the parties involved agreed that the use of the information be protected.
The 16-page document outlined a plethora of stipulations as it relates to who will have access to the information and how it will be circulated among others.
The matter has been touted as very expensive to contest and by the time the matter is disposed of in the courts, it is projected that some $200M would be spent.
The issue began when the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) decided to challenge a United States-based Guyanese man, Vernon Bedessee, over the use of the label Demerara Gold on sugar packages.
GuySuCo was already marketing a product, Demerara Gold, on the European market but the company discovered that Bedessee was marketing a product of the same name but instead of sugar made in Demerara, the product marketed by Bedessee was from Mauritius.
GuySuCo immediately challenged the apparent trademark infringement.
Following the discovery of the apparent trademark infraction, Agriculture Minister made some statements critical of Bedessee’s action.
These statements were published by the local media and reproduced in the overseas editions of some of the local newspapers.
Immediately Bedessee sued for libel and slander.
The US-based lawyers do not come cheap, according to a GuySuCo official.
A spokesman in the local law firm of Cameron and Shepherd said that United States law firms do not operate like those in Guyana. Lawyers charge by the hour. The spokesman said that top lawyers charge US$1,500 per hour.
Investigations have revealed that the lawyers on the GuySuCo case are charging about US$1,000 per hour.
The charges at present average between $15 million and $20 million per month but in the end the money could be recovered when the sugar company demands costs from Bedessee.
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