Vertical Leisure v Poleplus, Intellectual Property Enterprise Court
Vertical Leisure, a supplier of dance equipment, owned and used various trade marks including “X-Pole” and developed a new accessory in pole dancing called the “Silkii”. A former director of Vertical Leisure who then became an employee of Poleplus, a competitor, registered domain names incorporating the words “silkii” and “x-pole”. The former director offered to sell the domain names to Vertical Leisure. He accepted that he had wanted to make money out of the proposed sale, but said he would not have sold them to anyone else, including Poleplus. He said that he had not used or threatened to use the domain names.
The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court sided with Vertical Leisure and decided that the case of BT v One in a Million from 15 years ago was still good law in England. By registering the domain names, the former director had created circumstances in which it was likely that a misrepresentation would be made to anyone looking at the domain name and believing that he and Vertical Leisure were associated with each other. This also constituted an instrument of fraud. Vertical Leisure was therefore entitled to summary judgment against its former director. The case against Poleplus was not as clear cut and so this justified going to a full trial so that Poleplus could provide a defence.
