A judge has dismissed an appeal from IPTV service YouView against a ruling preventing it from registering its name as a trademark for some services.
Registered Trademarks are granted for specific classes of goods and services with each class applied for being decided on its own merits.
According to the Intellectual Property Office database of Registered Trademarks, YouView has been granted rights in some classes, including Class 41 for “Provision of entertainment, education, recreation, instruction, tuition and training both interactive and non-interactive; production, presentation, distribution, syndication, networking and rental of audio, video, still and moving images and data whether in compressed or uncompressed form; game services; production and rental of educational and instructional materials; publishing services (including electronic publishing services); exhibition services; organisation, production and presentation of shows, competitions, contests, games, concerts and events; language teaching; provision of language schools and language courses; provision of information and advisory services relating to any of the aforesaid services.”
However the service faced opposition from Total Limited which already holds a Registered Trademark for Your View in relation to databases and database software in Class 9.
A hearing officer at the IPO which determines applications ruled that the similarity of the Your View and YouView marks meant there was room for confusion and denied YouView’s application for these services, a decision which has now been backed by the courts.
In an appeal hearing, YouView had argued that the officer erred in her assessment. However the Judge, The Honourable Mr Justice Floyd, dismissed this argument and said the officer “was engaged in a multifactorial assessment which her expertise ideally qualified her to undertake” and ‘reached a conclusion which she was entitled to reach.”
Total’s MD Stuart Baikie, said the company were “delighted with the judgment.”
Mr Baikie added: “YourView is a key differentiator for us and is a significant part of our business and future growth strategy, so it was absolutely imperative that we defended the trade mark that was granted to us in 2009. Our opposition to the YouView trade mark has been now been fully vindicated.”
In a statement YouView said it had “no intention of changing its name” and described the situation as “complex and subject to a number of on-going legal actions” which would be settled in the courts.
Should it ultimately be forced to change its name, the IPO database shows the company already holds a mark for YooView.
