Report of Trade Mark Cases For the CIPA Journal November 2024

We report on the long-awaited decision in SkyKick v Sky, in which the Supreme Court determined that an application for an excessively broad specification, with a lack of genuine intention to use the mark across the goods and services applied for, was an indicator of invalidity for bad faith. We also cover the High Court’s judgment in Foundation for the Protection of the Traditional Cheese of Cyprus Named Halloumi v Fontana Food, which highlights the challenges of enforcing marks which are widely used in a descriptive sense. We report on easyGroup v Easy Live (Services), in which the High Court clarified that there was no real likelihood of confusion between the marks EASYLIFE and the signs featuring the words "easy live" as the average consumer would not assume that easyGroup had a monopoly over the use of the word "easy". We also report on easyGroup v Beauty Perfectionists where the High Court decided there was no likelihood of confusion between the easyGroup’s marks and signs for easyCOSMETIC, and had it been necessary indicated that the evidence put forward in relation to the defence of honest concurrent use pointed away from a conclusion of infringement. Finally, we report on the High Court’s judgment in Morley’s (Fast Food) v Nanthakumar, which applied the Supreme Court’s recent decision on joint tortfeasorship in IP claims. The Court found that granting licences for an infringing mark was knowingly authorising and procuring trade mark infringement.