“The ‘own name’ defence under art 12(a) of Council Regulation (EC) 40/94, whereby a community trade mark did not entitle the proprietor to prohibit a third party from using in the course of trade his own name and address, could be available in respect of a trading name, as well as a corporate name of a company, but it would depend on: (i) the actual trading name that had been adopted; (ii) the circumstances in which it had been adopted; and (iii) depending on the circumstances, whether the use was in accordance with honest practices.”
WLR Daily, 4th March 2010
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
