(Supreme Court of Ireland) The plaintiff’s C and A department store in Belfast was entitled to mount a claim in passing off in the Irish Republic.
Henchy J was unhappy about the decision in Alain Bernardin, and said that there were in the Irish Republic ‘sufficient customers of [the] plaintiff’s business [in Belfast] to justify his claim’.
Kenny J rejected the argument that a passing off claim ‘should be limited to cases where the plaintiff had acquired some of its goodwill in the Republic by user or trading in this country’, and pointed out that the plaintiff in that case had customers in the Republic, where it had ‘carried out extensive advertising on television and radio and in the newspapers’. He also said that the decision in Alain Bernardin was wrong.
Judges:
O’Higgins CJ, Henchy, Kenny JJ
Citations:
[1978] FSR 126
Jurisdiction:
Ireland
Citing:
Disapproved – Alain Bernardin and Cie v Pavilion Properties Ltd ChD 1967
The owner of the Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris tried to stop a business in London under the same name. The plaintiff advertised in the UK but carried on no other activities here.
Held: An injunction was refused. The plaintiff had reputation but . .
Cited by:
Cited – Starbucks (HK) Ltd and Another v British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc and Others SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked whether, as the appellants contended, a claimant who is seeking to maintain an action in passing off need only establish a reputation among a significant section of the public within the jurisdiction, or whether, as the courts . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Ireland, Intellectual Property
Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.566010
