Trade mark decision

BL Number
O/397/01
Decision date
12 September 2001
Hearing Officer
Mr A James
Mark
LABEL ROUGE
Classes
29
Registered Proprietor
Bernard Matthews Plc
Applicants for Invalidation
Etat Francais representee par la Ministere de L'Agriculture de la Foret
Application for declaration of invalidity
Sections 47(Sections 3(6) & 5(4)(a))

Result

Section 47 - Application for invalidation failed.

Points Of Interest

  • Quality of evidence required in passing off; reference to unreported case South Cone Inc v Jack Bessant etc : 16 May 2001 : Pumfrey J

Summary

The applicants claimed that LABEL ROUGE was an official quality mark of the French Ministry of Agriculture. The Hearing Officer, however, found that the evidence provided by the applicants had failed to establish that there existed an actionable goodwill under the mark in the UK at the relevant date. The application under Section 5(4)(a) failed accordingly. Neither could he find the evidence sufficient to support the allegation of bad faith under Section 3(6).

Full decision O/397/01 PDF document25Kb