Brand protection or corporate bullying?

Says Orange Ink founder Lara Magnus: "Being in PR ourselves, we really get the importance of brand protection. However, we followed South African law and have used the name since 2003. It was registered it in 2005 and the period for objecting to our registration under the Companies Act was two years from registration. Nobody objected."

Magnus and Meggan Liebenberg, partners in the ten-man operation, agree that by the letter of the law, it would be considered a trademark infringement as Orange was registered overseas before Orange Ink was registered here.

Trademark specialists Adams and Adams, operating on behalf of Orange, outlined the different classes in which the telecoms giant had registered the word "Orange". They include internet cafes, garden services, writing instruments and cardboard products. Online dating services, too.

Because Orange Ink has been instructed to (among other things) "immediately cease all and any use of the names Orange Ink Pty Ltd, Orange Ink or Orange; cancel the domain name orangeink.co.za; and deliver-up [sic] for destruction all matter which is currently in your possession or under your control reflecting the name in issue", the company finds itself having to fork out some R70 000 in the rebranding of everything from business cards and letterheads to promotional pens - and, of course, its website.

"We have submitted a possible solution to Orange, and we await their input on this," says Magnus.

The Orange website - which gives no indication of a South African operation - says that "the Group had consolidated sales of 53.5 billion Euros in 2008 and a customer base of more than 189 million customers in 30 countries at 2009, September 30. Orange, the Group's single brand for Internet, television and mobile services in the majority of countries where the company operates, now covers more than two-thirds of customers. At the end of September 2009, the Group had 128,8 million mobile customers worldwide and 13,4 million broadband internet (ADSL) customers in Europe."

Little wonder Orange Ink can't take it on, even if it has been suggested by legal experts that it may win a court battle in South Africa. It's also an interesting way for a company to enter a new market - and smells a lot like corporate bullying rather than brand protection.

"I fully understand global branding strategies. But at what cost to good will, when large companies alienate a lot of smaller organisations in a new market? There are ways to do business - one of them is not coming into a new country with intense aggression."

The Orange lawyers say the company has invested "millions" in its brand locally. When asked to prove their investment here, a brochure and a photograph was submitted, and it was said that Orange has premises on William Nicol Drive.

"I get the need to protect the brand," says Magnus. "But this type of behaviour is strange - coming in to the country, protecting your brand first, taking out some companies and then launching?"

The story has touched an emotional hotspot with local businesses, and Orange Ink has been made offers from various businesspeople to assist with its rebranding initiatives. "We've had amazing feedback," Magnus says. "Many people are angered by what they have called 'plain corporate bullying'."

So, is this brand protection, or Big Guns using a telephone directory to weed out possible contenders, even if the closest they come to their core business is having a cell phone? Is it fair to prevent the partial use of a name - that of a fruit, even - by every industry? Can a ten-man company really be a threat to the branding of a billion dollar one? I'm getting that smell of bullying again . . .