YouView sued for trademark busting
November 26, 2012
Following success in the Appeal Court earlier this month, Total, a Gloucester telecommunications company, has issued High Court proceedings against YouView for infringement of Total’s registered trademark: Your View.
This new claim is the latest in the legal battle between Total and YouView, as Total continue to attempt to protect their brand. The Trade Marks Registry opposed registration of YouView’s trademark, and YouView subsequently unsuccessfully appealed that decision at the High Court.
YouView TV has recently launched its Freeview TV platform – a joint venture backed by the major TV channels and broadband providers, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT, TalkTalk, and Arqiva.
The Total owned trademark Your View is registered with the Trade Marks Registry in respect of “Database programs and Databases” in Class 9; “Provision of commercial business information by means of a computer database; computerised database management; compilation of information into a database” in Class 35; and “Providing access to computer databases; telecommunication services” in Class 38.
Total is claiming that YouView is in breach of section 10 (2) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, because by use in the course of trade and without consent YouView have used their trade mark, which is identical or similar to the Your View trademark, and is used in relation to goods and services which are identical or similar to those for which Total have registered their mark, and there exists a likelihood of confusion including a likelihood of association between the marks.