Connected TV platform YouView is to appeal its latest defeat in the ongoing battle to register its brand as a UK Trademark.
The service’s original application for some classes of goods and services was rejected by the Intellectual Property Office following objections by Gloucestershire based telecoms company Total Limited.
Total uses the similar Your View brand for a number of database products and argued that the YouView brand could cause confusion or dilute its own brand.
In November 2012 YouView lost an appeal against the IPO’s decision after which Total threatened court action if the TV service failed to change its name.
The case has now been heard by the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court which, in a verdict published today, backed Total’s claims that granting YouView’s application could cause confusion with its products.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Sales rejected YouView’s suggestion that Total had registered its own trademark in order to block the TV service from securing its preferred brand and said the firm’s “infringement claim succeeds”.
Following the court’s verdict, Lorrin White, Managing Director of Total said: “I am delighted that our determination – and considerable investment – in doing so has resulted in the Courts finding in our favour once again. Whilst Total may not compare to YouView in terms of size, we both operate in the same industry space.
“We protect our rights to brand ownership and wholeheartedly defend those rights – as any business should – otherwise we would never have registered our marks in the first place. Our integrated YourView products are core to the long term strategy of Total. We are a business that respects our partners, competitors and the wider industry, but YouView have persisted in their infringement of our registered mark, leaving us no option but to take action through the courts.”
However a spokesperson for YouView said it would appeal the decision “as we maintain there is no confusion between our consumer-facing TV service, YouView, and the business-to-business billing platform, Yourview, provided by Total Ltd.”