Sitting in its March Term of Court A.D. 2013, the full bench of the Supreme Court of Liberia has found the City Builders Incorporated of Lebanese businessman Ezzat Eid guilty of stealing and using the trade mark (City Builders, Inc.) of the late John Dimacopoulous illegally.

Delivering the opinion of the Supreme Court on July 15, 2013, Associate Justice Sie-A-Nyene G. Yuoh ordered that defendant Ezzat Eid stopped and prohibited from using the name of City Builders, Inc.

The Supreme Court judge also ordered the Lebanese businessman to pay amount of US$50,000 as general damages and the amount of US$100,000 as punitive damages to the agent of the late Dimacopoulous owner of City Builders, Inc. of 1968.

She ordered that said fine be paid within seventy two hours of the rendition of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Liberia's opinion.

Judge Yuoh upon concluding the matter, instructed the clerk of the Supreme Court to send a mandate to the Civil Law Court commanding the presiding Judge therein to resume jurisdiction over the case and give effect to the judgment of the Supreme Court.

Though it is not clear as to when the presiding Judge of the Civil Law Court will read the mandate from the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court Judge also said that the costs of the court are ruled against defendant Ezzat Eid.

"The clerk of this court is hereby ordered to send a mandate to the Civil Law Court commanding the Judge presiding therein to resume jurisdiction over this case and to give effect to this judgment. Costs are ruled against the defendant. It is hereby so ordered," Judge Yuoh ruled.

At the same time, lawyers who represented defendant Eid were ordered to pay the fine of US$200 for violation of rules 32 and 33 of the Code for the Moral and Ethical Conduct of Lawyers.

According to Judge Yuoh, the Code places the responsibility on a lawyer, among other things to advise his client on questionable defenses and warns the lawyer against disrespecting the judicial office which all lawyers are bound to uphold on the premise that he is only following his client's instruction.

According to documents in the possession of this paper, Counselors Cooper W. Kruah, Milton D. Taylor and Theophilius C. Gould represented and appeared in court for the City Builders, Inc. of the late John Dimacopoulous while counselors Golda Bonah Elliott and Moses Paegar appeared for defendant Ezzat Eid.

On March 13, 2009 the Management of City Builders, Inc. of the late John Dimacopoulous through his agent Madam Fatu Kiazolu filed a law suit in an action of damages for wrong in the Civil Law Court at the Temple of Justice against Mr. Ezzat Eid alleging that the latter corporation had unauthorized used the name City Builders, Inc. the name under which agent Kiazolu of the late Dimacopoulous was incorporated in 1968.

Court documents in the possession of this paper show that the City Builders, Inc. of defendant Eid was incorporated in January 2001 through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that also incorporated the city Builders, Inc. of the late Dimacopoulous in 1968.

The act of two corporations operating the same name according to the Association Law of the Republic of Liberia legal minds say is a flagrant violation.