Bruce Cohen=20
A bitter battle for the knock ‘n drop newspaper market=20 in Gauteng between the Argus Company and Caxtons has=20 ended — and just begun.=20
The Appeal Court this week upheld an appeal by Caxtons- CTP against an 18-month-old Supreme Court judgment which=20 allowed Argus to publish freesheets in competition with=20
Caxtons, which was previously 50 percent owned by Argus=20 until Tony O’Reilly bought the newspaper group last=20 year, had a restraint of trade agreement with Argus=20 going back to 1985 when Argus acquired its share in=20 Caxtons, preventing it from competing in the freesheet=20
But Argus went ahead with a series of zoned inserts=20 called “Focus” in The Star which landed them in court=20 facing a Caxtons interdict.=20
Argus won that round in 1993, but this week Caxtons won=20 the second. It may, however, be a temporary victory for=20 Caxtons managing director Terry Moolman. The Appeal=20 Court judgment has given Argus a fresh window of=20 opportunity to get back into the lucrative market. The=20 court ruled that no interict could operate in=20 perpetuity. The judge pointed out that in changed=20 circumstances, the CTP restraint might not be worthy of=20
Argus immediately responded by saying it would launch a=20 fresh court application to allow it to publish the=20 regional supplements.=20