E Is For Eurodrive ... Or Is It Enterprise?

It’s non silent available on BAILII, only today’s conclusion inwards Eurodrive Car Rental Ltd v Enterprise Rent-a-Car has been noted on the LexisNexis-owned Butterworths All England Direct subscription service.

The applicant applied to registrar a serial of merchandise marks, each of which consisted essentially of a stylised version of the alphabetic quality ‘E’, for role inwards relation to the hire of vehicles (Class 39). The opponent, who owned a number of merchandise marks which consisted of a device resembling the alphabetic quality ‘E’, nether sections 5(2)(b) together with (3) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (which guard against the likelihood of confusion together with render protection for the reputation of a mark). The hearing officeholder dismissed the opposition together with the opponent appealed, argument that the hearing officeholder had made a fault together with that his conclusion should hold upwards laid upwards aside. The applicant argued that the courtroom should interfere amongst the conclusion exclusively if in that place had been a manifest error on the component of the hearing officer, or a procedural irregularity, together with non because the courtroom might, on balance, receive got come upwards to a dissimilar view.

Mr Justice Laddie dismissed the appeal. The inquiry for determination nether s 5(3) was whether in that place was, or appeared to be, a link which a user of the goods, seeing the marks at issue, would receive got considered was a link betwixt them and, if so, whether that link was 1 which was probable to receive got given an unfair payoff to the applicant, or to receive got been harmful to the reputation together with graphic symbol of the opponent’s mark. The hearing officeholder was entitled to conclude that members of Earth would non receive got associated the applicant’s marks amongst the opponent’s marks. Accordingly, in that place were no grounds on which to interfere amongst the conclusion of the hearing officer.

thinks the hearing officeholder was dead correct -- together with and hence was Mr Justice Laddie. Merpel sometimes gets real depressed past times these footling example notes. It’s all real good using legal words similar “applicant” together with “opponent”, only she does similar to know the identity of each of them.

Other interesting things close due east here, here and here