NIPC Law

Jane Lambert High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Intellectual Property List, Chancery Division (Lord Justice Arnold)    Glaxo Wellcome UK Ltd and Another  v Sandoz Ltd and Others [2019] EWHC 2545 (Ch) (4 Oct 2019) This was an action for passing off . The claimants alleged that the defendants were passing off their dry powder inhalers ("DPI") as and for the claimants' by presenting and packaging them in purple. The action came on for trial before Lord Justice Arnold in July 2019. His lordship dismissed the claim in his judgment of 4 Oct 2019. The Claimants The claimants, Glaxo Welcome UK Ltd. and Glaxo Group Ltd. have marketed a combination of salmeterol and fluticasone for the treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ("COPD") under the trade mark Seretide in a proprietary DPI branded Accuhaler since 1999 and in a metered dose inhaler ("MDI") branded Evohaler si...

Claridge's  Hotel Author Tim Westcott   Licence CC BY-SA 2.0   Source Wikipedia   Claridge's  Jane Lambert Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (Mr Recorder Campbell)  Claridge's Hotel Ltd v Claridge Candles Ltd and Another  [2019] EWHC 2003 (IPEC) This was an action for trade mark infringement and passing off. There was also a counterclaim for revocation of the marks in suit for non-use.  The claimant was the owner and operator of Claridge's , the well-known luxury hotel on the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street.  The defendants were a small private company that supplied candles like the one in the photograph below and its only director and majority shareholder, Denise Shepherd, who lives on a street that happens to be called Claridge Court. The Claimant's Mark The claimant registered the word CLARIDGE'S as a UK trade mark with effect from 22 July 2005 for the following goods and services: Class 3:...

In  Gama Healthcare Ltd v PAL International Ltd [2016] EWHC 75 (IPEC) (20 Jan 2016)   the claimant, Gama Healthcare Ltd ( "Gama" )  sued PAL International Ltd. ( "PAL" ) for passing off. Gama complained that the get-up of Pal's Medipal  disinfectant and detergent wet wipes was so similar to the packaging of its Clinell wipes that it was likely to lead members of the trade to believe that the defendant's wipes were those of the  claimant or otherwise connected with the claimant. The goodwill claimed  lay in the use of those colours in combination with the colour block design for the front of the packaging described. The proportion of the front of the pack which was to be coloured was not specified, and no part of the packaging was relied upon apart from the front of the package. Gama pleaded that the front of the package was the critical aspect that would most commonly be viewed by the public. Gama was founded in 2004 by two...

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom P hoto Pam Fray Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence. Source Wikipedia In  Reckitt & Colman Products Ltd v Borden Inc   [1990] 1 WLR 491, [1990] RPC 341, [1990] WLR 491, [1990] 1 All ER 873, [1990] UKHL 12, Lord Oliver said: "The law of passing off can be summarised in one short general proposition - no man may pass off his goods as those of another. More specifically, it may be expressed in terms of the elements which the plaintiff in such an action has to prove in order to succeed. These are three in number. First, he must establish a goodwill or reputation attached to the goods or services which he supplies in the mind of the purchasing public by association with the identifying "get-up" (whether it consists simply of a brand name or a trade description, or the individual features of labelling or packaging) under which his particular goods or services are...

The Rival Logos: Enterprise's to the left and Europcar's to the right In Enterprise Holdings, Inc v Europcar Group UK Ltd and another [2015] EWHC 17 (Ch) (13 Jan 2015) Enterprise Holdings Inc . ( "Enterprise" ) sued Europcar UK Ltd  and its French holding company ( "Europcar" ) for trade mark infringement and passing off.  Enterprise trades under the logo to the left while Europcar had begun to use the sign on the right. The litigation in England iwa part of a global struggle between the two car hire giants over those logos.  According to Mr Justice Arnold there are some 98 trade mark disputes between those parties over Europcar's new logo around the world.  The Registration Enterprise alleged infringement of 3 of its UK registered trade Marks and 7 of its Community ones. At trial Enterprise focused its case on CTM  937,4497 ( "the CTM" ) which was registered as of 14 Sept 2010 in respect of  "vehicle rental and leasing ...