Dutch Caribbean Legal Portal

7-Eleven loses appeal in 10-year fight with 7 Alive

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Published on Friday, 24 February 2012 13:13

SIMPSON BAY--It appears that 7 Alive Grocery in Simpson Bay might finally be able to say that its 10-year legal battle with mega retail chain 7-Eleven Inc. is over.

Roeland Zwanikken of law firm BSZE Attorneys at Law, who assisted 7 Alive in this case, informed this newspaper that the High Court on February 17 rejected the appeal of 7-Eleven Inc. to prevent 7 Alive Grocery from using its name and logo.

Zwanikken said the court found no reason to legally consider 7-Eleven's appeal, explaining that the High Court only rules on cases that concern the correct application of the law. He said this latest development appears to be the end-of-the-line for the case, although 7-Eleven could still decide to appeal. "But I don't see how they could do that at this point," he said.

7-Eleven Inc., the world's largest retail store, appealed a ruling in 2010 of the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. According to Laprior, 7 Alive's holding company, the 7-Eleven logo was first published in 1946, which would mean that the copyright had expired after 50 years.

7-Eleven, countered with the argument that the company's logo had only been made public in 1968. However, Laprior submitted a book to the Court, as evidence that the differences between the 1946 and 1968 logos were only minimal. This led the three Joint Court judges to follow Laprior's plea.

7-Eleven was convicted to pay the cost of the legal proceedings, estimated at NAf. 5,295.50 at that time and appealed the ruling at the High Court. This appeal has now been rejected.

Based in Dallas, Texas, 7-Eleven operates franchises and licenses more than 7,100 stores in the U.S. and Canada, and approximately 31,400 convenience stores in countries including Japan, South Korea, China, Mexico, Australia, Philippines, Indonesia, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

(The Daily Herald)

24 February 2012