Trouble brewing as TWG Tea and founder tussle over domain name
Luxury tea company sues founder and former CEO who counter-sues firm
The company behind luxury tea brand TWG Tea has sued founder and former chief executive officer Manoj Murjani over the ownership of its Internet domain name on which the company hosts its website, online store and e-mail servers.
Mr Murjani had registered the domain twgtea.com in Aug 2007 under his own name, before the TWG Tea Company was incorporated.
But the company is relying on a document he signed in 2010 to argue that the domain name belonged to it.
"Mr Murjani has held TWG Tea to ransom by refusing to transfer the registration and ownership of the domain name to its rightful owner," said TWG Tea's lawyer, Mr Tony Yeo of Drew & Napier, in his opening statement in court yesterday.
Mr Murjani, who is represented by Ms Koh Swee Yen of WongPartnership, has counter-sued TWG Tea, its current CEO Taha Bouqdib and Mr Bouqdib's wife, Ms Maranda Barnes.
He is seeking compensation from the company for using the domain name at his expense and is also claiming damages against the company and the Bouqdibs for making false statements about his role as the founder of TWG Tea.
This was in relation to statements on the company's website and in interviews, in which the Bouqdibs referred to themselves as founders, without any mention of Mr Murjani.
Mr Murjani asserted that while he had conferred the title of co-founder to Mr Bouqdib and others, this does not detract from the fact that he founded TWG Tea's business.
The case, which opened in the High Court yesterday, is the latest legal tussle involving Mr Murjani and TWG Tea.
TWG Tea started as a subsidiary of Mr Murjani's company, The Wellness Group.
In 2011, lifestyle products company Osim International bought an initial 35 per cent stake in TWG Tea, and in 2014, became the majority shareholder with a 69.9 per cent stake.
Mr Murjani resigned as CEO and director of TWG Tea in 2012, amid disagreements with Osim and its top management.
He and The Wellness Group started lawsuits against Osim and others, but the claims were eventually dismissed by the Court of Appeal in 2016.
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Now, TWG Tea is asking the court to order Mr Murjani to return the domain name twgtea.com.
It is relying on a letter signed by Mr Murjani in 2010, where he declared that the domain name shall always remain the property of TWG Tea and that he will transfer the registration and ownership of the domain to the company at the next available date of renewal.
But Mr Murjani contends that the document has no legal effect as the proposed acquisition was never concluded.
He argues that TWG Tea's claim was an afterthought, noting that it was only in August 2016 that the company demanded, for the very first time, that he transfer the domain name to it.
The trial continues.
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