Dentists in fight to be Dr Smile

WHO is the real Dr Smile? This is the question before the high court in Pretoria, with two Joburg dentists both claiming they are Dr Smile.

Dentist Zeyn Khan said he had been known for years as Dr Smile and his patients were well aware of this.

He even wrote for international jour nals under the name Dr Smile, about his quest to ensure his patients had beautiful smiles. There was a signboard in front of his Hyde Park practice with the name, Dr Smile, Khan said.

He said that fellow dentist, Dr Rawahani Faizi, whose practice was in Sandton, claimed he, too, was Dr Smile.

But Faizi had registered the Dr Smile trademark with the Registrar of Trademarks, while Khan had not.

Khan asked the court to order the Registrar of Trademarks to expunge the Dr Smile trademark, as registered by his opposition. He also wanted the court to interdict Faizi from using the Dr Smile name.

Khan said in papers before court that he opened his practice in 2006 and soon after, started calling his practice Dr Smile. His telephone number, when converted into letters, even read Dr Smile. It was his name and his name alone, Khan said. He advertised under this name on a national and international level.

Khan said he was shocked when he got a call from Faizi, who told Khan to remove the name Dr Smile from his billboard and advertisements.

“He said he was the registered owner of Dr Smile.”

Khan’s lawyers told Faizi to remove his name from the trademark register, but this request was met with silence.

“The respondent… knew… about my reputation prior to him registering this name for himself.”

Khan said he wrote to the registrar to ask it to transfer the mark Dr Smile to him, to no avail.

The court added the Registrar of Trademarks as a respondent.