South African fashion retailer Stuttafords said on Tuesday a court had ordered it to stop selling United States retailer Gap merchandise due to a dispute with a local firm that claims to be the owner of the brand.
Stuttaford chief executive Bruce Rubenstein told Reuters the retailer would abide by the court decision and wait for a response from Gap.
On Monday, the Pretoria High Court ordered privately held Stuttafords to stop sales of Gap clothing until a final order was handed down.
Local firm Kingsgate said it had acquired the South African ”Gap” trademark in 1983, upon purchasing a company under litigation, but had apparently not sold or produced any products under the name, Rubenstein said.
”Gap has to decide what its response is going to be and go through the judgement and formulate an opinion,” Rubenstein said. Gap was not immediately available for comment.
Rubenstein said the Gap brand had done extremely well since its introduction into its stores in March, but declined to give figures.
Gap last week reported a 26% drop in quarterly profit as it cut prices at its struggling Gap stores and began closing its Forth & Towne business. – Reuters