PWF successfully defends appeal by owners of old Morris Minor brand

The decision to cancel for non-use 8 UK trade marks relating to the old Morris Minor brand was appealed by the owners and Page White Farrer successfully defended the non-use action decision. The owners sought to claim that the hearing officer had failed to properly assess a label that they claimed appeared on parts, featuring various images and secondly that a parts list showing the label should have been taken into account as evidence of use.

 

In the Appeal, the Appointed Person confirmed that the standard of review in appeals is that there must be a distinct and material error of principle, or the hearing officer must have been wrong.  The Appointed Person did not feel that the hearing officer’s conclusion was rationally insupportable.

 

Instead, the Appointed Person noted that lack of clarity in the logos relied upon as proof of use, the fact that various logo images had been used by the parties and it was simply not clear what logo had been applied to goods and ultimately the owners had made a poor attempt at filing evidence, when one would expect to see invoices, licensees’ statements concerning use and legible evidence.  The Appointed Person agreed with the hearing officer’s comment that it is difficult to understand how a party trying to show use of Morris as a trade mark can end up relying on a photograph of a label so small that all one can see is a squiggle, where the word Morris is supposed to be.

 

Page White Farrer recovered a substantial legal costs award in favour of our client.

 

Please contact Trade Mark Attorney James Cornish for more information on protecting your trade marks. 

 

This briefing is for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for legal advice relating to your particular circumstances. We can discuss specific issues and facts on an individual basis. Please note that the law may have changed since the day this was first published in August 2024.