On 17 October 2014, the High Court of Justice, England and Wales handed down a Decision revealing new opportunities for trademarks holders in limiting online advertising and selling of counterfeits. The claimant, collectively called Richemont Group, owners of TM rights of number brands for luxury goods - Cartier, Montblanc, Richemont and others against 5 leading ISP with a combined market share of about 95% of Internet broadband users the UK.The essence of the claim of TM holders is to obtain an injunction against Defendants requiring them to block or impede access to a number of websites which advertised and sold counterfeit goods under the Claimants' trade marks.
The legal basis on which the decision is based is the general provision of Article 8/2 / of Directive 2001/29 / EC of the European Parliament and the Council on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright and related rights in the information society, implemented in domestic legislation of Britain in Article 97 of the Law on copyright, Designs and Patents Act (CDPA). The said provision provides for the imposition of financial sanctions and restrictive measures in relation to online infringements of rights protected objects of intellectual property.
The court's decision is the first of this type in Europe on online protection of trademarks. Previous court decisions have been issued to block access to websites for violations of copyright and related rights.
The Decision is expected to encourage owners of registered trademarks to seek injunction to block the websites offering the sale of counterfeits of original branded goods.
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