NIPC Law

  Jane Lambert Patents Court (Mr Justice Mellor) Nador Cott Protection SAS v Asda Stores Ltd and another [2026] EWHC 553 (Pat) (12 March 2026) This was a claim by Nador Cott Protection SAS against ASDA Stores Ltd, and International Procurement and Logistics Ltd. for the alleged infringement of Plant Breeders' Right number 28016 by importing    Tang Gold oranges into the UK and retailing them to the British public.  The action came on for trial before Mr Justice Mellor on 25 and 26 Nov 2025.  By para [359]  of his judgment in  Nador Cott Protection SAS v Asda Stores Ltd and Another [2026] EWHC 553 (Pat), which he handed down on 12 March 2026, the learned judge dismissed the action. Issues His lordship set out the issues in the trial as follows: whether the Tang Gold fruit was a dependent variety of Nador Cott's ("the dependent variety issue"), and if it was whether Nador Cott Protection had lost its right of action because it  had  a rea...

In  Community Trade Marks: Specsavers v ASDA   7 Feb 2012  NIPC Law I analysed the litigation that had taken place between two well known retailers in which the Court of Appeal considered how far an aggressive marketing campaign can go without infringing trade mark law. As I said in my case note Specsavers International Healthcare Ltd  and others ( " Specsavers" ) had brought an action for trade mark infringement and passing off against the supermarket chain Asda Stores Ltd. ( "ASDA" ) for using the marketing materials that I identified in my note and Asda counterclaimed for revocation of Community trade mark 1358589 depicted above ( "the wordless mark" ) for non-use. History of the Litigation The action and counterclaim came on for trial before Mr Justice Mann who found that the strapline "Be a real spec saver at ASDA" infringed the word mark under art 9 (1) (c) of the Community Trade Mark Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 ...

Specsavers  (Specsavers International Healthcare Ltd., Specsavers BV, Specsavers Optical Group Ltd and Specsavers Optical Superstores Ltd) are a group of companies which offer glasses, contact lenses and the like at competitive prices. Specsavers' Trade Marks Specsavers have registered the following Community trade marks: (1) 1321298 and 3418928 The word mark SPECSAVERS ( "the word mark" ); (2) 449256 and 1321348 ( "the shaded logo mark" ); (3) 5608385 ( "the unshaded logo mark" ); and (4) 1358589 ( "the wordless logo mark" ) The Claim Specsavers brought an action for trade mark infringement and passing off against the supermarket chain ASDA  (Asda Stores Ltd.) for the use of the following marketing materials: (1) the ASDA Opticians' logo as used in posters: (2) the following bill board: and (3) this leaflet: ASDA's Counterclaims ...