Navigating the intricate world of intellectual property disputes can lead to intriguing developments, and two recent cases in the UK have caught the attention of both legal enthusiasts and curious observers.
Craft Beer Co
If you follow international IP law developments, you'll know that UK supermarkets regularly feature in IP disputes.
Marks and Spencer (M&S)
Marks and Spencer (M&S) is, of course, a British institution. You might imagine that the retailer is well-informed when it comes to launching new brands. M&S recently decided to add a particular T-shirt to its collection, featuring the name "Craft Beer Co" on both the front and back.
Image credit: Unsplash
Craft Beer Co
There's a company called Craft Beer Co, which was started by two friends in 2011, and now has seven pubs in London, and one in Brighton. The company complained about M&S's adoption of the name "Craft Beer Co".
Traditions
The traditional way of dealing with a trade mark dispute goes something like this – the aggrieved party consults with a lawyer, who then sends the alleged trade mark infringer a nasty and threatening letter, and then sends the client a nasty bill, under cover of a letter that makes it clear that it would be a mistake not to pay it.
But tradition is so yesterday!
The aggrieved party, Craft Beer Co, didn't bother with lawyers. They simply took to Twitter: "What's the idea with these T-shirts?", "Can we expect a royalties cheque in the post?", "Surely one iconic British institution shouldn't be ripping off another."
The response from M&S
M&S did not contest the claim. It said that it had adopted the name "Craft Beer Co" "in good faith". It insisted that it takes "intellectual property very seriously" and took the decision to remove the product "so that we can investigate further". It made the point that "the graphics on the back and chest add a distinctive theme."
Probably just a boo boo
The UK press loves IP disputes and they quickly picked up on this story. Craft Beer Co's co-owner, Martin Hayes, said this in the most British of ways:
"I'm not angry about it, but it is a little annoying... I've got a lot of respect for M&S. It's an iconic British business and I think somebody's just made a bit of a boo boo really, but I'm sure it will be sorted out."
Hayes went further, saying that, "we're a relatively small business so I don't think we'll be taking on a PLC... this isn't Aldi v Marks and Spencer", a reference to the highly publicised Colin the Caterpillar case.
This then prompted Aldi itself to join in the fun with a tweet of its own: "Oh how the tables have turned."
Lessons
This story brings home the importance of trade marks in a number of ways. The importance of creating the right trade mark. The importance of clearing the trade mark by way of searching. The importance of protecting the trade mark through registration. The importance of understanding how fascinated the press is by trade mark disputes. And lastly, the importance of recognising how getting trade mark issues wrong can lead to serious reputational damage.
Wagatha Christie
A recent posting in the IPKat blog deals with an IP angle of the Wagatha Christie saga. It was inspired by the fact that Rebekah Vardy has managed to secure a trade mark registration in the UK for the name WAGATHA CHRISTIE in a number of classes.
Rebekah and Coleen
Rebekah Vardy is the wife of footballer Jamie Vardy. Jamie's fame has made Rebekah a "WAG", a term used to describe the wife or girlfriend of a celebrity. Rebekah was recently involved in acrimonious litigation with another WAG, Coleen Rooney, the wife of footballer, Wayne Rooney.
For some time, Rebekah and Coleen moved in the same circles. But at some point, Coleen concluded that someone in her circle was leaking stories to the press. She suspected that someone was Rebekah.
Coleen then decided to play detective, setting up a sting operation that involved a fake story, that was only made available to Rebekah. When this story appeared in the press, Coleen knew that her suspicions had been correct; the mole was indeed Rebekah Vardy. Coleen put the following breathless message on Twitter: "It's ... Rebekah's account."
Cue High Court proceedings that became known as the Wagatha Christie case, a play on the name Agatha Christie, the famous crime writer. High Court proceedings that went in favour of Coleen Rooney, mind you.
A little bit of IP
IP lawyer, Neil Wilkof, posted an interesting and slightly whimsical piece on this story on the IPKat blog recently.
Wilkof despairs somewhat at the fact that WAGATHA CHRISTIE – a mere "cultural meme" - has in fact been registered as a trade mark. Despite this, he concedes that it probably is fair game because it belongs to no one. He accepts that WAGATHA CHRISTIE is distinctive and that it can act as a badge of origin. He queries whether there might be an element of bad faith present here, but he doesn't press the point. He argues that we need to look at context when assessing trade mark registrations.
Reviewed by Ilse du Plessis, an Executive in ENSafrica's IP department.
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