Matthew Arnold & Baldwin LLP | Giving you a lot more than just law... » PCC

Angler shows folly as trade mark angles for a victory in trade mark infringement case – Fox International v Folly, Patents County Court

Paul Gershlick — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 09:43:56 +0000

Fox had a European Community Trade Mark for “STALKER” in respect of fishing equipment. Folly sold fishing equipment on the Internet under the name “STALKER” but replacing the “T” with a picture of an angler, and also adding the word “tackle” underneath. Fox successfully sued for registered trade mark infringement. The Patents County Court ruled that not only could it claim for same or similar trade marks in respect of same or similar services with a likelihood of customer confusion, but there was also deemed to have been infringement on the grounds of use of an identical mark for identical services.

The Court dismissed Folly’s arguments that “STALKER” had been used in conjunction with “tackle” as that was not always the case on its website. It also did not agree that “STALKER” was used in a descriptive sense, as that was not how Folly had used it. The Court also had no time for the arguments that “STALKER” was generic or had no distinctiveness.

All in all, the case brought was pure folly and the defendant should have found a better angle to win.

Telegraph’s Cable fishing expedition wrong, says Press Complaints Commission

Paul Gershlick — Tue, 31 May 2011 14:38:38 +0000

The Daily Telegraph’s fishing expedition in which it sent undercover reporters posing as constituents with a hidden tape recorder to the constituency surgery of Vince Cable was a breach of the Editors’ Code of Practice. There was public interest in the difference of opinion amongst members of the Coalition Government and the Business Secretary’s views on News Corporation’s bid of BSkyB. However, this did not justify the use of undercover reporters and hidden recorders in this way. The Code states that such subterfuge can generally be justified only in the public interest and then when the material cannot be obtained by other means. Cable’s comments about News Corporation’s bid had not been the focus of the discussion with him or the paper’s main coverage. Fishing expeditions such as this that involve clandestine devices without sufficient justification are not acceptable. There was disproportionately intrusive attention on Cable and the other MPs involved.

Details of the ruling can be found here: http://www.pcc.org.uk/news/index.html?article=NzEyMA.

Loaded did not invade woman’s privacy for including pictures from her Bebo page when she was 15 because the photos were in widespread use across the Internet

Mark Weston — Mon, 17 May 2010 16:53:24 +0000

Loaded has been found not to have invaded a woman’s privacy, despite using pictures of her that had originally been posted on her page on the Bebo social networking site when she was 15. The Press Complaints Commission refused to rule against the lads magazine because the images were already so widespread on the Internet. The PCC questioned the taste and offence over the article and use of images particularly given her age, but those questions were not within its remit. What it could say was that her privacy had not been infringed because the images were already in wide circulation at the time Loaded published them. The PCC is a self-regulatory code of practice applicable to the printed publication industry.

Press Complaints Commission extends to Internet-only publications

Mark Weston — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:05:13 +0000

The Press Complaints Commission – the newspaper industry’s self-regulatory body – is extending its remit to Internet-only publications for the first time. Until now, online versions of printed magazines and newspapers fell within the PCC’s remit. This development fills a gap. To be a part of PCC’s regulatory system, a publication must be UK-based and would come within the PCC’s remit if it had been in printed form.