What Is Asos High Court Hearing
HIGH COURT JUDGEMENT
The High Court hearing happened in three sittings and lasted for more than a week.
One of the defences Asos used was that Asos is an acronym made out of their initial title “As seen on screen” and online retailer should be able to use it “in accordance with honest practices in industrial and commercial matters”. This has been referred to as “own name” defence. This was done under Article 12 which states that “Community trade mark shall not entitle the proprietor to prohibit a third party from using in the course of trade:
(a) His own name or address;
(b) Indications concerning the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, the time of production of the goods or of rendering of the service, …show more content…
2 against 1 Lord Justices summarised that Asos had infringed Assos in the very early stages of the company (when company was smaller with no goodwill to back it up), however now it can use its own name defence and therefore not liable. The overall judgement still was the same as per High Court (no infringement) but it was not united and Asos honest practice was one of the biggest disagreements.
ASOS AND HONEST PRACTICE. In general, Asos title derived from “As Seen On Screen” and the company did not try to confuse public or damage Assos’ goodwill intentionally. In addition, Asos activities did not damage or in any way benefited from Assos activities. The major question was if Asos acted “in accordance with honest practices in industrial or commercial” matters. Judge commented that Asos failed with honest practices due to the following …show more content…
If company would have done so, Assos would be noticed although it was visible that Assos specialised on cycling gear and not selling fashion wear.
• In 2007 Asos knew regarding Assos Community Trade mark and company’s objections and still started selling own by clothing (prior to that company was selling branded merchandises only)
• A year later Asos undertook one of few logo changes in recent years where capitals were changed to lower case and therefore appeared very similar to Assos logo (of which Asos was aware of)
• In 2010 began entering international markets and creating country specific websites in places like Germany and France (closer to Assos home country) and started bidding for word “assos” on Google search.
ASSOS CTM REVOCATION. Court of Appeal agreed that the Assos Community Trade mark should be limited to “jackets, t-shirts, polo shirts, track-suit tops, track-suit bottoms, casual shorts, caps” although this judgement was divided and was argued that it is too limiting if in future Assos wants to expand its business and go into more
The High Court hearing happened in three sittings and lasted for more than a week.
One of the defences Asos used was that Asos is an acronym made out of their initial title “As seen on screen” and online retailer should be able to use it “in accordance with honest practices in industrial and commercial matters”. This has been referred to as “own name” defence. This was done under Article 12 which states that “Community trade mark shall not entitle the proprietor to prohibit a third party from using in the course of trade:
(a) His own name or address;
(b) Indications concerning the kind, quality, quantity, intended purpose, value, geographical origin, the time of production of the goods or of rendering of the service, …show more content…
2 against 1 Lord Justices summarised that Asos had infringed Assos in the very early stages of the company (when company was smaller with no goodwill to back it up), however now it can use its own name defence and therefore not liable. The overall judgement still was the same as per High Court (no infringement) but it was not united and Asos honest practice was one of the biggest disagreements.
ASOS AND HONEST PRACTICE. In general, Asos title derived from “As Seen On Screen” and the company did not try to confuse public or damage Assos’ goodwill intentionally. In addition, Asos activities did not damage or in any way benefited from Assos activities. The major question was if Asos acted “in accordance with honest practices in industrial or commercial” matters. Judge commented that Asos failed with honest practices due to the following …show more content…
If company would have done so, Assos would be noticed although it was visible that Assos specialised on cycling gear and not selling fashion wear.
• In 2007 Asos knew regarding Assos Community Trade mark and company’s objections and still started selling own by clothing (prior to that company was selling branded merchandises only)
• A year later Asos undertook one of few logo changes in recent years where capitals were changed to lower case and therefore appeared very similar to Assos logo (of which Asos was aware of)
• In 2010 began entering international markets and creating country specific websites in places like Germany and France (closer to Assos home country) and started bidding for word “assos” on Google search.
ASSOS CTM REVOCATION. Court of Appeal agreed that the Assos Community Trade mark should be limited to “jackets, t-shirts, polo shirts, track-suit tops, track-suit bottoms, casual shorts, caps” although this judgement was divided and was argued that it is too limiting if in future Assos wants to expand its business and go into more