…after High Court quashes decision to remove company from registry

JUSTICE Fidela Corbin-Lincoln on Thursday afternoon ruled in favour of Guyana Airways Corporation Inc., ordering that they be given the legal right to use and operate with the name.

The company had filed an application at the High Court earlier this year, after the Registrar of Commerce (Ag) removed the name ‘Guyana Airways Corporation Inc.’ from the Company’s Register, pursuant to section 487 of the Companies Act.

Chief Executive Officer/Chairman of Guyana Airways Corporation Inc. Dr. Colin Abrams, had said that their company’s operations, which was expected to start in Guyana, had come to a halt because their business name was “unregistered.”

The move, he explained, was costing him a lot of money since the company was involved in a legal tussle in the court to have its business name registered and to get approval from the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCCA) to start operations in Guyana.

Abrams said they had been registered since 2016 and every entity had an opportunity to object to the name; ‘Guyana Airways Corporation Inc.’ within a six-month period after which they would have received their registration.

He explained that they had their attorneys prepare the paperwork and the name was available since the law states that names must not be identical.

Abrams stated that they choose to use the name Guyana Airways Corporation Inc. because the name was available and separate from Guyana Air 2000 and for 18 years there was no airline to this country and he wanted to bring one to Guyana. GAC Inc. is using the colours and logo of the former state-owned carrier. He explained that Guyana Air 2000 logo was never copyrighted and they went about things the right way.

The judge agreed with the arguments presented by the company’s counsel, Pamela DeSantos and Senior Counsel (SC) Bernard DeSantos that the registrar’s decision was unlawful, null, void and of no legal effect.

She agreed that striking off the name was not in compliance with the procedures in the Companies Act. Representing the Registrar, Deputy Solicitor General, Deborah Kumar, argued that the decision was made inadvertence, and that the registrar’s interpretation was that the name was too similar to a name registered as ‘Guyana Airways 2000’.

SC DeSantos said that the decision could not have been inadvertence since the company would have signed a declaration that they are not affiliated with the government and the registrar knew all along that the names were similar.

In fact, he said the law caters for identical names, and in most places in the world, identical means the same. And the names are not the same. Given the losses and expenses caused on the company from the move by the registrar, SC said he will advise the company to bring an action against the registrar and the attorney general for loss and damages.