Ruling tastes good for Smirnoff as vodka name gets protected status – Diageo...
Diageo – the owner of the market leading brand, Smirnoff – has obtained an important judgment protecting the vodka name from being passed off as a cheaper imitation called vodkat. Smirnoff has been...
View ArticleFailure to act quickly enough proved fatal to injunction application to stop...
Since 2004, A had been operating the blinkx.com web site, which was an Internet service providing access to film, television and video content. In 2008, B started up its own site at blinkbox.com, which...
View ArticleSmall Essex café owner tells Harrods that they’ll continue to call themselves...
The owner of a small café in Essex has vowed to carry on calling themselves Hollands, despite a heavyweight challenge by Harrods. Nigel Holland said he was ‘amazed’ when Harrods’ lawyers wrote to him...
View ArticleNumatic fails to see funny side of imitation as Henry cleans up in vacuum...
In what has proved to be a very dirty dispute, Numatic has obtained a ruling from the High Court that Qualtex’s proposed new vacuum cleaner amounted to passing off. The prototype for the product looked...
View ArticleIt’s drinks all round as Diageo celebrates confirmation that VODKA has...
Diageo – the owner of the market leading brand, Smirnoff – has obtained an important judgment protecting the vodka name from being passed off as a cheaper imitation called vodkat. Smirnoff has been...
View ArticleSophisticated fake sites set up in seconds
It takes just seconds to set up sophisticated fake web sites. Those are the claims made by First Cyber Security, the Internet security business. The problem is growing. The number of counterfeit goods...
View ArticleHigh Court awards injunction to stop ex-agent using domain names similar to...
The High Court has awarded an injunction to stop the agent of its previous client from using three domain names that were confusingly similar to its ex-client’s domain names. Lifestyle Management was a...
View ArticleYell screeches to home win in trade mark infringement and passing off case...
Yell owns a UK registered trade mark for “Yellow Pages” and a walking fingers logo. Through two transport business directory websites that Giboin and his companies operated from another country, they...
View ArticlePassing off action success for tree surgery – Redwood Tree Services Ltd v...
The claimant and defendant were trading within a few miles of each other under similar business names. The two businesses had managed to co-exist for some time, until the defendant started doing...
View ArticleUnited copycat hopes suffer crash landing – United Airlines Inc v United...
United Airlines, the famous US airline, has won a comprehensive victory and obtained summary judgment in the High Court against a Bangladeshi airline that went under the name United Airways. The High...
View ArticleBottles bank Shütz High Court trade mark victory – Shütz v Delta Containers,...
Shütz trade marked caged bulk containers, which were used to transport and store liquids in bottles inside the containers. Both the container and the bottles carried the Shütz name and had been...
View ArticleUS website loses battle for passing off as reputation amongst UK users not...
The operator of a US dating website, Plentyoffish, opposed an application by Plenty More, a UK dating website, to register a figurative trade mark using the words “plenty more fish”. Plentyoffish...
View ArticleSpecsavers seeing better now after appeals against Asda upheld – Specsavers...
In 2010, the High Court was asked to consider whether a marketing campaign and rebranding by Asda in relation to its optician service infringed trade marks held by Specsavers. Many of Specsavers’...
View ArticleSweet Squared digs its nails in and gets under Lumos’ skin in passing off...
Lumos Skincare (Lumos) operated a skincare products distribution business under the trade mark “Lumos”. Sweet Squared and the other businesses against which Lumos issued proceedings (SS) distributed...
View ArticleUse of name was not “fine” in estate agent’s name
Fine & Country v Okotoks, High Court F&C had registered the “Fine & Country” name and logo as registered UK and European Community trade marks so it could license them to independent estate...
View ArticleJudge permitted to infer damage and loss of trade despite lack of evidence
Woolley v Ultimate Products, Court of Appeal The claimants had developed a successful business and goodwill in marketing watches under the HENLEY brand and owned a European Community Trade Mark for...
View ArticleHigh Court rules distinctive “RUUKKI” brand can stop trade mark on passing...
Rautaruukki OYJ v Ruukki Group OYJ and others, High Court Rautaruukki (R) sold metal products, and, in 2004, started using “RUUKKI” as its marketing name. R applied for and obtained a trade mark for...
View ArticleCTM is “NOW” invalid, says High Court
Starbucks (HK) Ltd and others v British Sky Broadcasting Group plc and others, High Court Starbucks (a Hong Kong-based media group and not the coffee shop chain) issued proceedings against Sky alleging...
View ArticleOnline Wardrobe shop sufficiently different to bespoke bricks and mortar shop...
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...
View ArticleGreek [albeit made in the US] Yoghurt Sir?
Fage UK Limited v Chobani UK Limited, High Court Just when you thought you had heard enough about not so Greek yoghurt, the case thickens… Chobani has applied to the High Court for permission to...
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