NIPC Law

J ane Lambert Chancery Division (HH Judge Melissa Clarke)  Jaguar Land Rover Ltd v Ineos Industries Holdings Ltd [2020] EWHC 2130 (Ch) (3 Aug 2020) On 11 April 2016, Jaguar Landrover Ltd. ("JLR") applied to register the shapes of the Land Rover Defender 90 and Land Rover Defender 110 motor vehicles, in each case with and without rear-mounted spare wheels ("the Marks") and the shapes of the Defender 90 and 110 with spare wheels, in classes 9, 12, 14, 28 and 37.  On 12 May 2016, that company applied to register the shapes of the Defender 90 and 110 without spare wheels. Unlike registered designs, design rights and copyrights, trade marks can be renewed indefinitely. It is not easy to register the shape of a product because there are restrictions on the registrations of signs that consist exclusively of indications which may serve, in trade, to designate the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, the time of production...

Jane Lambert Chancery Division (HH Judge Hacon)  Fromageries Bel SA v J Sainsbury Plc [2019] EWHC 3454 (Ch) (12 Dec 2019) This was an appeal against Mr Allan James's decision  of 13 Feb 2019 that the registration of the above 3-dimensional sign under trade mark number UK2060882  was invalid. The hearing officer held that 'the colour red' in the description of the mark was insufficiently clear or precise and that a particular hue of red should have been specified. The proprietor's grounds of appeal were as follows: "(1) The Hearing Officer erred in applying the Sieckmann criteria to a mark that is not a colour mark per se. (2) The Hearing Officer erred in failing to interpret the registration as being limited to the red colour shown in the pictorial representation of the registered mark. (3) Alternatively, if the Sieckmann criteria apply to a mark that is not a colour mark per se and if the registration was not already limited, then the...