Court reverses 'unnecessary' injunction on LPG supplier

A judge has refused to issue an injunction, filed against a gas bottling company by its direct competitor over its use of visually similar gas cylinders, ruling the measure to be unnecessary.

On 18th May, Liquigas Malta Ltd had filed a court application for the issuing of an injunction against its competitor Easygas Malta Ltd, in order to stop it from breaching commercial and trademark law by selling liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in green cylinders that resembled Liquigas' products. The court had provisionally upheld the request until it made a final judgment on the matter.

Easygas had filed a reply on 2nd June, arguing amongst other things, that the plaintiff could not expect exclusivity on everything that was a shade of green. Its cylinders were different in design, shape and weight, and every one of their gas cylinders carried the Easygas logo. The injunction was unnecessary, argued Easygas, as any possible damage that could be suffered by Liquigas was not unfixable. “The most the plaintiffs could have suffered are damages which are quantifiable in monetary terms.”

In a judgment handed down on Monday, Judge Joseph R. Micallef, presiding the First Hall of the Civil Court, observed that the colour, alone, of a gas cylinder did not identify its owner, but was merely an indication. Ownership was indicated by the number etched on the cylinder and the name printed on it.

At first glance, the court said, the injunction did not appear to be necessary to protect the applicant's rights. Injunctions required an objective necessity that did not depend on the discretion of the court, it said, adding that in this case, the rights being vaunted did not appear to exist.

The legal remedies available to the Liquigas in the case where a breach of commercial or trademark law are sufficient without necessitating the “freezing” of the situation by means of a warrant of prohibitory injunction, it said, reversing its provisional upholding of the warrant.

Lawyers Adrian Delia and Karl Tanti were legal counsel to Easygas.