Two High Court decisions in the UK last week highlight that it is not always easy to register and enforce shape trade marks even when the shapes themselves are iconic and recognisable by the public. The consumer’s perception of the trade marks was pivotal in both cases, with mere association being insufficient and reliance being too high a bar to clear. London Taxi The London Taxi Corporation Ltd (t/a The London Taxi Company) v Frazer-Nash Research Ltd and another [2016] EWHC 52 (Ch), 20 January 2016 In the first High Court Decision, Mr. Justice Arnold, concluded that the shape of the traditional London taxi was not sufficiently distinctive, or as iconic as the London Taxi Corporation claimed, to be a trade mark. The judge said that the trade mark would merely be seen as a variation of the typical shape of a taxi and that consumers (in this case, taxi drivers) would not regard the shape as indicating the origin of the taxis. They were far more likely to rely on badges on…
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