In 1999 the claimant company was carrying on a business supplying mobile phones under its corporate name Phones 4u. At that stage it was trading on a fairly modest scale. In 1999 a Mr Heykali (the second defendant) decided to go into the mobile phones business and acquired the domain name phone4u.co.uk. The claimant copy eventually brought claims for passing off and trade mark infringement against Mr Heykali and the company which he had by then established. That company was the first defendant.
Held: The claims in passing off and infringement of registered trade mark failed. On the evidence, when Mr Heykali registered the domain name in 1999, he had never heard of the claimant company or of its business. On that basis he could not be liable in passing off.
Mr Richard Sheldon QC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the Chancery Division
[2005] EWHC 334 (CH)
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Phones4U Ltd and Another v Phone4u.Co.UK and others CA 19-May-2006
Mobile phone companies brought claims of passing off and trade mark infringement by the defendant who had registered internet domain names in the same year as the claimants first registered their own names. The defendant appealed a finding that at . .
Cited – Global Projects Management Ltd v Citigroup Inc and Others ChD 17-Oct-2005
GPM had acquired an internet domain name ‘citigroup.co.uk’. Citigroup alleged passing off and trade mark infringement. The claimant complained of an unjustified threat. The defendant counterclaimed, and sought summary judgment.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Intellectual Property
Updated: 04 December 2021; Ref: scu.375136
