By Edwin Fidelis – EMTV News, Kokopo
Local female Entreprenure, Annette Sete, will file a lawsuit against three individuals for defamation.
Ms. Sete made her stand known following a newspaper article titled “Shell Money Foundation to take Sete to Court” in the Post Courier dated September 12, 2019, which she claimed had defamed her character.
The article demonstrated that Ms. Sete had abused the Tabu shell money by using it on her fashion designs.
The information was source from the Shell Money Foundation, a group which claimed to represent the interests of the traditional tabu shell money and those who use it.
” I have instructed my lawyers to file defamation charges against the reporter from the Post Courier Office in Kokopo, Mrs Rosemary Sovek, Secretary of the Shell Money Foundation or Association, and Mr Richard Tapil Jnr, President of the Shell Money Festival and Shell Money Foundation”, said Sete.
The newspaper article contained derogatory remarks from Mrs. Sovek who called Ms. Sete a foreigner and demanded that she ask her parents to show her traditional shells from her place of origin to use in her fashion designs.
“It is a direct attack on me as a person and unceremoniously dragging through the mud my brand and my business (Lava Girl) that I have worked hard to build”, Sete said.
The defamation lawsuit will be the second she will be filing against the trio in just a month. Ms. Sete is legally represented by Tony Waisi of the Waisi Lawyers.
Late last month, she filed a lawsuit against one of East New Britain’s wholesale giant, Tropicana Limited for copyright infringement of the famous Tabu Wheel fabric designs. Ms. Sete claimed it was her design she originally created and must be protected under copyright laws. The court documents were served to Tropicana’s director Dame Sandra Lau.
Meanwhile Ms. Sete said the newspaper article is a possible contempt, as it discusses evidence that is part of her case against Sandra Lau and Tropicana Ltd that is currently before the courts.
