NIPC Law

Royal Courts of Justice Author Dr Neil Clifton   Licence CC BY-SA BY-SA 2.0   Source Wikimedia Commons   Jane Lambert Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Newey, Lord Justice Nugee and Sir Christopher Floyd) Sky Ltd and others v Skykick, UK Ltd and another (Rev2) [2021] EWCA Civ 1121 (26 July 2021) The issue before the Court of Appeal in  Sky Ltd and others v Skykick, UK Ltd and another (Rev2) [2021] EWCA Civ 1121 (26 July 2021) was whether Sky Ltd., Sky International AG and Sky UK Ltd. could prevent Skykick UK Ltd and Skykick Inc. from using the sign SKYKICK in relation to email migration and cloud storage services.  I summarized the dispute as follows in  Trade marks - Sky v Skykick, The Final Chapter   on 9 May 2020: "On 23 May 2016 Sky PLC and its subsidiaries Sky AG and Sky UK Ltd. ("Sky") issued proceedings against Skykick UK Ltd and Skykick Inc.("Skykick") for infringement of their EU and UK trade marks and passing off. Skykick denied infringe...

Jane Lambert Chancery Division  (Lord Justice Arnold)  Sky Ltd and others v Skykick UK Ltd and another [2020] EWHC 1735 (Ch) (2 July 2020) On 9 May 2020, I wrote in Trade marks - Sky v Skykick, The Final Chapter : "Thus endeth a lawsuit that required three hearings before Lord Justice Arnold as he now is, one to the Court of Appeal and another to the CJEU. Sky scraped home on electronic mail services but not much else. The Sky companies lost their passing off claim and part of their goods and services specification. The excursion to Luxembourg did result in a ruling that lack of clarity and precision is not fatal to a trade mark registration and that bad faith in applying for registration of some goods and services does not vitiate the whole mark." Only the litigation didn't end.  There was a further hearing before Lord Justice Arnold on 2 July 2020 to argue the terms of the final order (see  Sky Ltd and others v Skykick UK Ltd and a...

Jane Lambert Chancery Division (Lord Justice Arnold)  Sky Plc and others v Skykick UK Ltd and another [2020] EWHC 990 (Ch) (29 April 2020) On 23 May 2016 Sky PLC and its subsidiaries Sky AG and Sky UK Ltd. ("Sky") issued proceedings against Skykick UK Ltd and Skykick Inc.("Skykick") for infringement of their EU and UK trade marks and passing off.  Skykick denied infringement and passing off and counterclaimed for declarations that the trade marks were wholly or partially invalid on the grounds that the specified goods and services were unclear and imprecise and the applications for those trade marks had been made in bad faith. The Proceedings The action and counterclaim came on for trial before Mr Justice Arnold as he then was.  In   Sky Plc and others v Skykick UK Ltd and another   [2018] EWHC 155 (Ch), [2018] ETMR 23, [2018] RPC 5 the learned judge dismissed the claim for passing off but took the view that the trade marks would be in...