Reports of Trade Mark Cases for CIPA May 2023

This month, we report on the High Court’s judgment in Botanica Agriculture and Extraction Ltd v Botanica Ltd (Leech J; [2022] EWHC 2957 (Ch); 26 October 2022) on whether the correct date to assess goodwill was at the date of incorporation of the challenged company or the date of application to the Company Names Tribunal under section 69 of the Companies Act 2006. We also report on the High Court’s judgment in Marriott Worldwide Corporation v Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Ian Karet sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge; [2023] EWHC 283 (Ch); 10 February 2023) on whether a trade mark registration should have been invalidated based on an earlier registration. Finally, we report on the High Court’s judgment in Virgin Aviation TM Ltd & Anr v Alaska Airlines Inc (formerly Virgin America Inc) (Christopher Hancock KC sitting as a High Court Judge; [2023] EWHC 322 (Comm); 16 February 2023) on whether the clauses of a trade mark licence agreement required the payment of royalties even when the trade mark was not being used by the licensee.