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YouView TV sued over trademark infringement

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By John Glenday, Reporter

November 26, 2012 | 2 min read

YouView, the fledgling internet TV service chaired by Lord Sugar, has found itself facing High Court proceedings after being taken to court by Gloucestershire based telecommunications firm Total Ltd over the infringement of their ‘Your View’ trademark.

The development is just the latest in a long running legal spat between the two firms and follows an earlier decision by the Trade Marks Registry, which ruled in Total’s favour, and YouView’s unsuccessful appeal to the High Court.

YouView is a joint venture Freeview channel backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT, TalkTalk, and Arqiva.

Paul Gordon, partner at Willans LLP Solicitors, representing Total Ltd. comments “The YOUR VIEW trade mark has been registered to Total Ltd. since 20 November 2009, a fact that YouView were fully aware of when attempting to register their mark.

“On Friday 9 November, Mr Justice Floyd dismissed YouView’s appeal and took time to point out that not only was the hearing officer in the Trade Marks Registry right in her initial findings when she decided against registration of the ‘youview’ mark with certain goods and services, but that he agreed that there was similarity of the marks and similarity of the goods and services.”

Managing director of Total Ltd., Stuart Baikie, said “Despite the recent vindication of our position in the appeal proceedings we believe that YouView has continued to act without regard to our registered mark and business interests. We have had no choice but to issue infringement proceedings and we are confident of success.”

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