The appellants, a firm of staymakers, whose principal place of business was in America, introduced into Great Britain a new make of corset which they called ‘Erect Form Corsets,’ and on their showcards, boxes, and advertisements they printed the name in a peculiar and distinctive type upon a special ‘scroll.’ The respondents, a well-known firm of British stay-makers, copied this new design in stays and proceeded to sell them in boxes, having on their outside the name ‘Erect Form Corsets’ printed on the identical form of scroll employed by the appellants, with the addition of the letters C.B. (their own trademark) placed upon the right and left of it.
Held: (diss Lord Robertson) that while the respondents were entitled to use the name, the appellants having acquired no special right therein, the latter were entitled to an injunction to restrain the respondents from using the scroll in connection with the goods.
‘No trader is justified in taking the peculiar symbol, device, or mark, or any ‘accompaniment’ by which another man distinguishes his goods on the market, and so attract to himself the custom which would otherwise flow to his rival’- per Lord Macnaghten.
Lord Macnaghten, Lord Robertson, and Lord Lindley
[1905] UKHL 859, 42 SLR 859
Bailii
England and Wales
Updated: 06 August 2021; Ref: scu.621179