Everybody wins (or loses) in battle of the kitchen magnates
A spat between the owners of two Flemish kitchen manufacturers came to a head in the courts last week,
"The fighting has to stop"
Princess Keukens is a kitchen manufacturer from Limburg. Muylle is talking out of his hat, according to its owner, Denis Thijs. A black stripe is not a sign of quality; the use of melamine is.
Muylle (pictured) is the sort of entrepreneur who makes his own TV commercials, and in 2013 he came to the attention of Thijs, who seethed with rage for a year before taking out an ad in the paper denouncing his faraway competitor and accusing the West Fleming of misleading the public.
One thing led to another. Muylle took Thijs to court; Thijs, outraged, counter-sued.
A judge in Tongeren last week ruled that Princess did not besmirch the good name of Dovy, and that Dovy had not misled the public with its black stripe routine. “No-one is in the right, and the fighting has to stop,” the judge ordered.
Both sides lost, but, of course, in this sort of dispute, that’s the next best thing to winning. Princess rejoiced not in its own victory but in its opponent's defeat: “Dovy did not get what they hoped for,” came the reaction.
Over in Roeselare, the reaction was more magnanimous: “We have been striving for 35 years to please clients by delivering quality kitchens,” the company said. “Donald hopes from the bottom of his heart that this will bring an end to all the fuss.”
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