Meemi Ltd v Wardrobe (Beautiful Clothes) Ltd, High Court
W owned a trade mark registration for WARDROBE and ran a shop with haute couture clothing. M sold clothing online and had registered a trade mark for MY-WARDROBE.COM covering a large range of goods. W had succeeded in persuading the trade mark hearing officer in substantially restricting the specification for M’s registration on the basis that the potential overlap in goods supplied would result in a misrepresentation and passing off.
Following M’s appeal, although saying that WARDROBE was sufficiently distinctive enough to be registered as a trade mark, the High Court said that the hearing officer had made a mistake on the reduced specification and misrepresentation issue. Any trader who used a standard English word that described the nature of the business ran the risk of diminished exclusivity. Here, the two trade marks were not identical; also, their businesses operated in different spheres; further, W’s goodwill was limited geographically and there had been no evidence of any confusion. M’s use of trade marks for the goods in which they had been registered would not involve misrepresentation or passing off, and so the hearing officer’s decision would be reversed.