Report of Trade Mark Cases For the CIPA Journal September 2024

We report on the Supreme Court’s judgment in Lifestyle Equities v Amazon, which assessed whether the marketing and sale of goods on a foreign website infringed UK trade marks. We also report on the High Court’s judgment in Engineer.ai Global v Appy Pie which held that there was no trade mark infringement because the registered marks for BUILDER were descriptive and non-distinctive, and therefore the claimant’s registrations were partially invalid. We also report on a judgment of the Court of Appeal which determined that on a proper interpretation of a licence there was an obligation to pay a specified minimum royalty irrespective of whether the marks in question were used. Finally, we report on the Court of Appeal’s judgment that it had been right to consider that the existence of a "crowded market" could diminish the distinctiveness of a trade mark.