Dos Santos commented on the recent legal action taken by Cell C against George Prokas, a disgruntled customer who spent an alleged R61 000 to put up a banner in front of World Wear Shopping Centre on Beyers Naude Drive. The banner, which referred to Cell C as “the most useless service provider in South Africa”, also criticized the company’s Sandton City franchise manager, Riaan van Rooyen and an unnamed ‘executive head’ for allegedly refusing to assist a customer.
The service provider then took Prokas to the South Gauteng High Court on 13 November with an application that argued that the billboard was defamatory, made unauthorised use of their trademark and was put up in contravention of bylaws. But the company’s application was dismissed.
Dos Santos said, “From our perspective the banner infringed on our trademark rights, but more importantly, had the name of one of our valued staff members and their telephone number. He received in excess of 400 phone calls over a very short period of time, really harassing him and abusing him.”
He added that the company, after requesting that the banner be taken down, had no choice but to take the matter to court in order to protect their staff member and their trademark.
Dos Santos said that he was extremely angry that the company let Prokas down, but does not agree that the banner was a suitable way to behave.
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