Clean Street entrepreneur accused of playing dirty
Adesh Naidoo, who has won awards for an idea he says he got from Smartstreets’ product, says the London company’s claim against him has no legal basis
Durban entrepreneur Adesh Naidoo has defended his award winning product against allegations by a London company of intellectual property, saying the claim has is no legal basis. The London company, Smartstreets Ltd, said it had invented the Smartstreets-Smartbin and patented it in the UK in 2006. The bin is for chewing gum and cigarette butts, and doubles as advertising space. In 2012 Naidoo’s Clean Street eco-bin — which looks similar to the Smartstreets-Smartbin and serves the same purpose — netted its owner R50,000 in cash and R600,000 in business support at the Small Enterprise Development Agency awards. Naidoo has since entered other awards including the Green City Start Up Award run by Resolution Circle, a company that commercialises technology and develops engineering skills. Smartstreets took issue with this, saying Naidoo should not have been allowed to participate in any competitions after the company alerted organisers to the dispute in June this year. "It is galling to d...
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