San Juan Superior Court sets hearing on use of Genera brand
The San Juan Superior Court has scheduled a hearing for May 31 against Genera PR concerning the alleged illegal use of this name and brand. The hearing will be held virtually on the Zoom meeting platform, starting at 9:30 a.m.
The set date comes one week after Puerto Rican renewable energy company GenEra filed an injunction against Genera PR for the alleged illegal use of its brand in U.S. and Puerto Rico business transactions, as reported by News is my Business.
The injunction was filed after several unsuccessful attempts to communicate and resolve the issue with representatives of the energy consortium, the company stated.
“We’re confident that we will prevail in this process. Trademark law in Puerto Rico offers absolute and exclusive protection to the first to use the brand in this market. GenEra has been using its brands since 2020, while the other company began using them in 2023,” said Saúl González-Mendoza, founder of GenEra.
GenEra is a limited liability company with a social purpose (L3C), whose goal is “to contribute to the development of renewable energy in Puerto Rico through positive social impact initiatives.”
Since registering with the Puerto Rico Department of State on March 25, 2020, GenEra has used these names and brands in a wide variety of documents and materials.
“It’s important to note that courts seek to avoid the likelihood of confusion for consumer protection. The probability of confusion between names and brands here is clear,” said González-Mendoza. “The names and brands they have adopted have essential elements that are the same as our GenEra brand and name. It was the responsibility of that company to search social networks and the internet” to avoid potential infringement.
“With minimal effort, they would have learned of our company’s existence and prior use of our name and brand. Someone failed in their due diligence process. Expecting that the local company cede its rights at the whim of the newcomer is unreasonable,” he said.
In addition to the injunction case, the Puerto Rican company continues to explore other legal measures until a resolution is reached, he added.
