Civil Court dismisses Malaysian company’s bid to force name change of Maldivian firm

A lawsuit filed by a Malaysian company seeking a court order to change the name of a Maldivian company has been dismissed after the Civil Court ruled there was no legal basis for the request.

The case was filed by NZ World Tours and Travels of Malaysia, which sought an order to compel MyNZTrip Pvt Ltd, a company registered in the Maldives, to change its name on the grounds that it was similar and created confusion.

The Malaysian company told the court it had been operating in the tourism sector since 2017 using the name MyNZTrip and a website under that brand. It said it had already petitioned the Ministry of Economic Development under Section 15 of the Business Registration Act, arguing that allowing a Maldivian company to register a similar name would mislead the public and harm its business.

However, the ministry had earlier determined that MyNZTrip Pvt Ltd was registered in accordance with the Companies Act and Private Company Regulations, and that there was no similar or confusingly similar name in the Maldivian Business Names Register that would justify ordering a name change.

In its judgment, the Civil Court noted that at the time the Maldivian company was registered, no identical or confusingly similar name existed in the Trade Names Register. The court also highlighted that the Malaysian company’s name was not a trademark or brand registered in the Maldives under Maldivian law.

The Civil Court therefore held that there was no legal ground to order the Maldivian company to change its name, nor to issue any directive to the Ministry of Economic Development. The case was dismissed accordingly.