The plaintiff operated a night club for two years from 1964 to 1966 under the name AD-LIB CLUB. It was closed down for making excessive noise. The plaintiff could not find for alternate premises. The defendant, who did not file any evidence in response to an application for an interlocutory injunction, was proposing to open a club under the same name.
Held: The court considered whether a party who had ceased to trade could nevertheless maintain an action for passing off.
Sir John Pennycuick VC said: ‘It seems to me clear on principle and on authority that where a trader ceases to carry on his business he may none the less retain for at any rate some period of time the goodwill attached to that business. Indeed it is obvious. He may wish to reopen the business or he may wish to sell it. It further seems to me clear in principle and on authority that so long as he does retain the goodwill in connection with his business he must also be able to enforce his rights in respect of any name which is attached to that goodwill. It must be a question of fact and degree at what point in time a trader who has either temporarily or permanently closed down his business should be treated as no longer having any goodwill in that business or in any name attached to it which he is entitled to have protected by law.’
Judges:
Sir John Pennycuick VC
Citations:
[1972] RPC 673
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Minimax Gmbh and Co Kg v Chubb Fire Ltd PatC 29-Jul-2008
Chubb sought to prevent the registration of a mark by the claimant arguing that its use would amount to passing off as against its own marks.
Held: There was insufficient evidence for the hearing officer to have found that Chubb had maintained . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.273188