Justice Allagoa in his ruling set aside the contempt proceeding on the ground that Justice Aneke had earlier passed judgment on it.
Counsel to the claimant had argued that the alleged contemnor had been in contempt of court for a long period, from February to September, before it was set aside by Justice Aneke and therefore urged Justice Allagoa to disregard the judgement of Justice Aneke. The contempt proceeding was an offshoot of a claim filed by Rite Foods, alleging passing off by NBC of its Fearless energy drinks.
The passing-off case came to light sometime in March 2021 in suit No: FHC/L/CS/92/2021 at the Federal High Court, Lagos.The claimant alleges that NBC has infringed on its trademark with its Predator energy drink, which has adopted a lion head in resemblance to the mark on its Fearless energy drinks brand.