The idea of the ‘average consumer’, the arbiter of similarity in trade mark disputes, is a legal construct which tends to emphasise that similarity is an autonomous concept of European law. Similarity and likelihood of confusion are intimately bound together. The court declined to refer questions to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling before trial, holding in essence that such a reference would be premature.
Judges:
Sir Andrew Morritt V-C
Citations:
[2005] EWHC 344 (Ch), [2006] RPC 29, [2005] ETMR 62
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Esure Insurance Ltd v Direct Line Insurance Plc ChD 29-Jun-2007
Both companies sold motor insurance products at a distance and used as logos and symbols either a telephone or a computer mouse, in each case on wheels. Direct line claimed the use of the mouse by esure infringed its own trademarks, and resisted . .
At First instance – O2 Holdings Limited and O2 (UK) Limited -v -Hutchison 3G UK Limited ECJ 31-Jan-2008
ECJ (Opinion of Advocate General Mengozzi) Directive 84/450/EEC Comparative advertising Use of a competitor’s trade mark or of a sign similar to a competitor’s trade mark in comparative advertising Applicability . .
Cited – Interflora, Inc and Another v Marks and Spencer Plc and Another ChD 22-May-2009
Each of the parties provided a service delivering flowers. The claimant had a trade mark, and the defendants each purchased the use of that trade mark and variations of it with a search engine (Google) so that a search under the trade mark produced . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property, European
Updated: 01 October 2022; Ref: scu.223379