For the whole decision click here: o45000
Result
Section 47(1) - Invalidity partially successful
Section 47(2) - Invalidity failed
Points Of Interest
Summary
The registered mark had a specification covering "Footwear and clothing" but the proprietor indicated at an early stage in the proceedings that he was prepared to restrict his registration to "Footwear" if this would settle the matter. However, the applicants continued with their application.
With regard to Section 5(4) - Passing Off - the Hearing Officer accepted that the applicants had some modest use of the marks THE END and THE END (in logo form) at the relevant date but only in respect of items of clothing such as shirts, leggings, bodices, blouses etc. The Hearing Officer decided that such goods were not similar to footwear and concluded that if the registered proprietor restricted his specification to such goods, his marks could remain on the register.
Under Section 3(6) the applicants had merely made an assertion that the registered proprietor must have known about their business and mark when he applied to register his mark. The Hearing Officer found such an assertion to be totally insufficient to justify a finding of "bad faith".