Ukulele Wars: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain v Clausen
Although Judge Hacon's decision in The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain v Clausen and Another [2015] EWHC 1772 (IPEC) was reported as a "victory" in the Independent ( The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain wins duel with German 'copycat' 3 July 2015) it was somewhat of the pyrrhic kind. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain sued The United Kingdom Ukulele Orchestra for trade mark infringement, copyright infringement and passing off and applied to strike out the defence on the grounds of abuse of process less than two weeks before the trial. The claim succeeded on passing off but failed on all other counts. The claimants lost their Community trade mark and the judge saw no merit in the strike out application whatever. The case is an interesting one because it considers what can be protected by intellectual property. The parties were very similar acts. The claimants' was described as follows by Judge Hacon at paragraph [1] pf his judgm...