Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

TVIS v Howserv (VETSURE/PETSURE): Court of Appeal (England and Wales) finds trade mark infringement and passing off; Reed v Reed inapplicable; actual confusion and distinctiveness underpin likelihood of confusion

Published on: 14 October 2024

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

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Article summary

TVIS Ltd v Howserv Services Ltd and other companies [2024] EWCA Civ 1103

What are the practical implications of this case?

While the Court of Appeal seldom overturns trade mark infringement decisions, the outcome here is hardly surprising; it is unusual for a claimant to marshal so many instances of at least arguable actual confusion, and aspects of the judge’s conclusions were difficult to reconcile. More notable for practitioners, however, are Arnold LJ’s narrow stance on descriptiveness (considered further below) and his account of why the principle in Reed Executive Plc v Reed Business Information Ltd [2004] EWCA Civ 159 did not apply. The frequently invoked Reed v Reed principle indicates that, where a mark is largely descriptive, relatively small distinctions may suffice to dispel confusion. This follows because the average consumer anticipates that others will also use descriptive signs and, accordingly, will be alert to details that differentiate one provider from another...

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