Report of Trade Mark Cases For the CIPA Journal October 2024

We report on the Court of Appeal’s decision in TVIS v Howserv Services, which found that errors had been made in the assessment of conceptual similarity, distinctiveness, and the approach to evidence of actual confusion. We also report on the High Court’s judgment in Athleta (ITM) v Sports Group Denmark, where trade mark infringement was found for sufficiently distinctive marks and dismissed for weakly distinctive marks. A passing off claim was also dismissed. We also report on Unicorn Studio v Veronese, in which the High Court ruled that an opposition should have failed – the hearing officer should have looked at the overall question of similarity. Finally, we report on Industrial Cleaning Equipment (Southampton) v Intelligent Cleaning Equipment where the Court of Appeal departed from the CJEU’s Budvar decision and held that for statutory acquiescence, the earlier mark’s owner only needs to be aware of the use of the later mark, not its registration, for time to start running.