UTRAX sues Senok Trade Combine for unfair competition

Udeshi Tracks & Equipment Private Limited (UTRAX), a company primarily involved in importation, sales, aftersales and maintenance and hiring of heavy machinery used in construction and earth-moving segment, instituted an intellectual property (IP) action in the Commercial High Court against Senok Trade Combine (Private) Limited, alleging that Senok is engaged in unfair competition against UTRAX.

The plaintiff UTRAX is a member of the Udeshi Group of Companies and is the exclusive agent for Sumitomo excavators and pavers, Hidromek backhoe loaders and loaders, aquarius systems water aquatic machines, Terex off highway dump trucks, Rm-terex motor graders, Bell dredging equipment and Ultratrex amphibious undercarriages.

The defendant is a member of Senok Group of Companies and as per the plaint, is engaged in the business of importation and sale of machinery commonly used in the construction and earthmoving segment, thus is a direct competitor of the plaintiff.

This legal conflict has arisen in respect of a tender of the National Aquaculture Development Authority of Sri Lanka (NAQDA) to purchase three units of amphibious weed harvesters, where UTRAX and Senok along with several other companies have bided and UTRAX has secured the tender.

The plaintiff UTRAX, through the plaint, has complained to the court that Senok has resorted to dishonest trade practices in the course of commercial activities in order to obtain competitive advantage over the plaintiff UTRAX.

UTRAX has pleaded that whilst the bids being evaluated by the Procurement Committee of the ministry, Senok had unlawfully and dishonestly attempted to interfere with the tender evaluation process by sending a letter to the Secretary of the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and Rural Economy Ministry, falsely alleging that the amphibious weed harvesters offered by UTRAX are not made in the USA and modified in Malaysia. As per the plaint, Senok had alleged that the amphibious weed harvester model offered by UTRAX is only a concept model without any proof of real-world capabilities, doubted its efficiency and had raised concerns on safety of the machine operators. The plaintiff has also submitted to the court that Senok had raised these purported allegations formally by way of an objection pursuant to UTRAX being selected as the successful bidder.

Thereupon, the plaintiff has submitted a detailed clarification along with letters of confirmation obtained from the plaintiff’s principals, namely Aquarius Systems USA and Ultratrex Machinery SDN. BHD. However, pursuant to a thorough evaluation and considering the clarification by UTRAX, the ministry has awarded the tender to UTRAX.UTRAX has submitted the plaint through its legal team, counsels Nishan Premathiratne with Pravi Karunaratne instructed by Sanjay Fonseka, attorney-at-law.