TWG Tea wins legal dispute against former CEO over domain name

TWG Tea will be taking over the rights for domain name twgtea.com from co-founder and former CEO Manoj Murjani, following a court case lasting almost two years. Murjani’s lawsuit to seek damages from the company from being excluded in the company’s history as a co-founder on public platforms did not take off as well.According to a written judgement by Judicial Commissioner Audrey Lim reported by The Straits Times, the court ruled the case in the TWG Tea’s favour as evidence showed that Murjani has applied for the domain name on behalf of the company. Murjani registered the domain twgtea.com under his name in 2007, before TWG was set up. However, he had referred it to “our domain” in an internal e-mail in 2009 and signed a letter stating that the domain name would “always remain” the property of the company in 2010.Additionally, Murjani’s countersuit on statements found on the TWG Tea’s website and in media outlets have fallen through as well. The website and media outlets had referred to current CEO Taha Bouqdib and his wife as founders, excluding any contribution by Murjani. The judge stated that there was no evidence suggesting that the statements are intentionally malicious or that Murjani suffered any damage as a result.The judge however, conceded that they should not have “glossed over” Murjani and excluded him from TWG Tea’s history. Murjani stepped down from his role as the CEO in 2012 following disagreements with the majority shareholder of TWG Tea, Osim International, said the news report.