YouView trademark battle set for court clash

The battle over the rights to the YouView brand name is heading back to court.

Earlier this month the broadcaster-backed IPTV service lost an appeal against the Intellectual Property Office’s refusal to grant it a trademark for certain classes of services.

Registered Trademarks are granted for specific classes of goods and services with each class applied for being decided on its own merits.

The refusal came after an IPO officer ruled the proposed trademark was too similar to a mark held by Gloucestershire based telecoms company Total Limited.

The company owns the trademark YourView, the name of their online customer portal, for Classed 9, 35 and 38.

At the time of the trademark ruling Total Limited said it was considering further action to protect its brand while YouView said it would not change its name.

The row is now set to be played out in the courts after Total Limited initiated High Court proceedings alleging trademark infringement.

The firm’s Managing Director Stuart Baikie, said “Despite the recent vindication of our position in the appeal proceedings we believe that YouView has continued to act without regard to our registered mark and business interests.

“We have had no choice but to issue infringement proceedings and we are confident of success.”

A YouView spokesperson repeated the company’s previous statement that the matter was “complex and subject to a number of ongoing legal actions” and said the issue “will be settled in the courts.”

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