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Canadian Court rules against Guysuco

Nov 28, 2011 News

A Canadian court has ruled against the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), in a lawsuit which was brought by Bedessee Imports Limited over the “Demerara Gold” label.
Over a year ago, Bedessee sued GuySuCo, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, David Narine, said to be a representative of the corporation in the United States, and various newspapers in Guyana, including Kaieteur News.
Justice G.R. Strathy, of the Superior Court of Justice, Ontario, Canada presided over the matter.
Bedessee claimed that the defendants made false statements concerning the business and its products, and disparaged the Canadian and United States trademark “Demerara Gold.”
Guyana and GuySuCo had contended that the “Demerara Gold” rightfully belongs to the country. However, Bedessee claimed that it had registered the trademark.
Guysuco and Minister Persaud had asked for the action to be stayed or dismissed against them, primarily based on the State of Immunity Act of 1985, which provides among other things, that a foreign state or agency is immune from the civil jurisdiction of a Canadian court.
It was stated in the court document that Guysuco was a direct participant in the activities in question, by funding the newspaper advertisements and by preparing a briefing note which exhorted the minister to issue as “public affront” on Bedessee.
This aspect of the motion was therefore dismissed without prejudice to the right of Guysuco to move, by way of summary judgement or at trial for an order dismissing the action against it.
With the dismissal of the matter, cost was also attached and if the parties are unable to agree on the amount, written submissions can be made.
The ruling effectively means that the Canadian lawsuit would continue to be heard in the court there, while a similar matter is being heard in a New York, US court, against another Bedessee company registered there.
Persaud, Bedessee claimed, allegedly made defamatory public statements in which he stated, among other things, that the plaintiffs’ sugar– “produced in Mauritius and sold as “Demerara Gold” with a map of Guyana on the label – was being deceptively marketed as a Guyanese product.”
GuySuCo, which was represented locally in Guyana by Cameron and Shepherd law firm, headed by prominent attorney-at-law, Ralph Ramkarran, had hired Canadian lawyers Mark Gelowitz and Lauren Tomasich.
Bedessee, in its court documents, claimed that Lionel Bedessee came to Canada from Guyana in 1971 and started a retail store selling Caribbean food on Queen Street West in Toronto. From that store, the business then started to operate from a 46,000 square foot warehouse and manufacturing facility in Scarborough.
The second plaintiff, Bedessee Imports Inc., was incorporated on September 23, 1985 to carry on the same business in the United States.
Bedessee said its products include raw cane sugar from Mauritius, which it sells under the trademark “Demerara Gold,” a mark it has been using for sugar and other products since at least 1984.
The product label contains a map of Guyana. Bedessee also markets a brown sugar product described as “Guyanese Pride,” which also has a map of Guyana on the label. Neither product contains Demerara sugar, court documents said.

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