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England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) Decisions |
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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) Decisions >> Interflora Inc & Anor v Marks and Spencer Plc & Anor [2013] EWHC 1484 (Ch) (12 June 2013) URL: http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2013/1484.html Cite as: [2013] EWHC 1484 (Ch) |
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CHANCERY DIVISION
Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL |
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B e f o r e :
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(1) INTERFLORA, INC. (2) INTERFLORA BRITISH UNIT |
Claimants |
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- and - |
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(1) MARKS AND SPENCER PLC 2) FLOWERS DIRECT ONLINE LIMITED |
Defendants |
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Geoffrey Hobbs QC and Emma Himsworth QC (instructed by Osborne Clarke) for the First Defendant
Hearing date: 23 May 2013
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Crown Copyright ©
MR JUSTICE ARNOLD :
Introduction
"1. The Defendant must not (whether acting by its directors, officers, servants or agents or any of them or otherwise howsoever) infringe United Kingdom Registered Trade Mark number 1329840 or Community Mark number 909838 whether by doing the following acts or otherwise howsoever, that is to say arranging for its sponsored link advertising to appear on any search engine results page by:
1.1 Bidding on any term comprising or containing the word INTERFLORA or any term differing only colourably therefrom, including, without limitation, any term listed in Exhibit JRL 25 to the Witness Statement of Jack Lemon for the Defendant dated 12 March 2013;
1.2 Failing to negative match any such term.
2. The aforesaid injunction shall have effect in the United Kingdom in relation to United Kingdom Registered Trade Mark number 1329840 and shall have effect throughout the territory of the European Union in respect of Community Mark number 909838."
"1. The Defendant must not (whether acting by its directors, officers, servants or agents or any of them or otherwise howsoever) infringe United Kingdom Registered Trade Mark number 1329840 or Community Mark number 909838 by doing the following acts , that is to say:
1.1(a) Selecting the word INTERFLORA or any word differing from it in respects which are so insignificant that they may go unnoticed by the average consumer of flowers or flower delivery services for use as a keyword to trigger the display of its sponsored link advertising for flowers or flower delivery services on any search engine results page; and
1.1(b) Arranging for its sponsored link advertising for flowers or flower delivery services to be displayed on any search engine results page in response to any such keyword in a form which does not enable reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant internet users, or enables them only with difficulty, to ascertain whether the flowers or flower delivery services referred to by the advertisement originate from the Claimants or an undertaking economically connected to them or, on the contrary, originate from the Defendant.
1.2 For the purposes of the foregoing injunction:
(1) The 'Signs' referred to in paragraph [135] of the Judgement delivered on 21 May 2013 under reference [2013] EWHC 1291 (Ch) shall be regarded as words differing from the word INTERFLORA in respects which are so insignificant that they may go unnoticed by the average consumer of flowers or flower delivery services; and
(2) Sponsored link advertising for the Defendants flower or flower delivery services which includes the text 'Try M&S for a change' or 'Use an alternative. Flowers by M&S' or text to the same substantive effect shall not be regarded as advertising in a form which does not enable reasonably well-informed and reasonably observant internet users, or enables them only with difficulty, to ascertain whether the flowers or flower delivery services referred to in the advertisement originate from the Claimants or an undertaking economically connected to them or, on the contrary, originate from the Defendant.
2. The foregoing injunction shall have effect in the United Kingdom in relation to United Kingdom Registered Trade Mark number 1329840 and shall not have effect outside the United Kingdom in respect of Community Trade Mark number 909838."
Broad matching without negative matching
"13. With regard to paragraph 1.2 of Interflora's proposed draft Order, it must be noted that there is no determination in the Judgment to the effect that failing to negative match (as opposed to positively matching) a keyword can constitute 'use' of a registered trade mark for the purposes of infringement under Article 5(1)(a) TMD/Article 9(1)(a) CTMR.
14. The answers to the questions referred to the CJEU in Case C-323/09 Interflora are all expressed in terms of a keyword 'which has been selected in an internet referencing service'."
"51. With regard, firstly, to the advertiser purchasing the referencing service and choosing as a keyword a sign identical with another's trade mark, it must be held that that advertiser is using that sign within the meaning of that case-law.
52. From the advertiser's point of view, the selection of a keyword identical with a trade mark has the object and effect of displaying an advertising link to the site on which he offers his goods or services for sale. Since the sign selected as a keyword is the means used to trigger that ad display, it cannot be disputed that the advertiser indeed uses it in the context of commercial activity and not as a private matter."
See also BergSpechte at [18]-[19], BANANABAY at [17], Portakabin at [27], L'Oréal v eBay at [86]-[87] and Interflora (CJEU) at [31].
Specificity of the injunction
"18. When deciding what is the appropriate form of injunction in a patent action, it must be borne in mind that the injunction is being granted to prevent apprehended use of the patentees' statutory monopoly, as defined in his claim. The decision as to form is taken against the background of the claim having been construed by the court as between the parties. That, of course, does not happen in other intellectual property cases. An injunction which just restrained breach of confidence would not be appropriate for many reasons, including because the extent of the confidential information would not have been determined. In passing-off cases a change of circumstance can alter the representation made and therefore the injunction normally sets out the act which is to be prevented, qualified by such words as 'so as to pass-off'.
19. The judge seemed to believe that injunctions which restrained infringement of a patent were broad injunctions: but they equate to the statutory right given; a right which has been held to have been validly granted and infringed. The injunction granted by the judge would allow the defendant to do other acts even though they may infringe. The defendant in those circumstances would be better off in that a change from that which is described and shown in the process description would allow him to continue in business without having to seek guidance from the court before adopting the change. The advantage to the defendant of only having the injunction cover a particular article or process is clear. If he makes a change he will not be in breach and it will be up to the patentee to bring another action. However, the disadvantage to the patentee is equally clear. To obtain an injunction he has to establish his monopoly and that it has been infringed, and the judge must conclude that further infringement is apprehended. From his point of view, it is the infringer who should seek guidance from the court if he wishes to sail close to the wind. In the normal course of events that would be reasonable.
20. The usual form of injunction which protects the right established by the patentee, with its ambit construed by the court, does in general provide a fair solution. However, each case must be determined on its own facts and the discretion exercised accordingly."
"Article 3
General obligation
1. Member States shall provide for the measures, procedures and remedies necessary to ensure the enforcement of the intellectual property rights covered by this Directive. Those measures, procedures and remedies shall be fair and equitable and shall not be unnecessarily complicated or costly, or entail unreasonable time-limits or unwarranted delays.
2. Those measures, procedures and remedies shall also be effective, proportionate and dissuasive and shall be applied in such a manner as to avoid the creation of barriers to legitimate trade and to provide for safeguards against their abuse."
"I should add a word about the Judge's references to proportionality and the passage of time. Whether or not conventional English law principles as to the grant of an injunction embody that concept (I rather think they do, though the now fashionable word 'proportionate' is not to be found in the older case law), in the case of enforcement of an intellectual property right, the requirement is explicit. The Enforcement Directive (2004/48/EC) by Article 3(2) inter alia requires that measures to enforce intellectual property rights shall be proportionate. It is accepted that a claim for misuse of technical trade secrets such as the present is a claim to enforce an intellectual property right. So the Judge was right to consider proportionality. "
"134. First, the form of injunction. Normally, having found infringement of a valid patent, the English court grants an injunction in general terms; it simply restrains the defendant 'from infringing patent No ….', see Coflexip SA v Stolt Comex Seaway MS Ltd [2001] R.P.C. 9 . It might be suggested (though Mr Fernando did not in this case) that this practice should be different in the case of contributory infringement where what is sold by the defendant does not itself infringe and has a non-infringing use. The suggestion might be that the court should modify the injunction so as to try to spell out what it is that the defendant can do. We would not have thought that normally appropriate: it will be up to the defendant to work out how to ensure that there is no ultimate infringement. Of course, if he does take reasonable steps but they turn out unexpectedly to be ineffective, enforcement of the injunction by launching proceedings for contempt of court instead of a fresh action for infringement may be inappropriate: see Multiform Displays v Whitmarley Displays (formerly Reay & Davis) (No.4) [1957] R.P.C. 137 .
135. The German courts may have a different practice—attempting to tailor the injunction in advance. That sort of merely procedural consideration seems to us to be essentially a matter purely for a national court, which makes its decision in the context of its own national procedural rules and legal culture."
"In the form that Kitchin J granted it, the injunction restrained only the marketing by M-Tech within the EEA of Sun's trade-marked goods which had not previously been marketed there by Sun or with its consent. There is a proviso designed to ensure that Sun does supply information about the provenance of goods potentially affected by the injunction. Its effect is that the injunction is not to apply to goods marketed by M-Tech unless Sun have confirmed within ten days of being told the serial and part numbers of the goods in question that their records show that they have not been put on the EEA market by them or with their consent."
Geographical scope of the injunction
"46. However, the territorial scope of the prohibition may, in certain circumstances, be restricted. The exclusive right of a Community trade mark proprietor, as provided for under Article 9(1) of Regulation No 40/94, is conferred in order to enable that proprietor to protect his specific interests as such, that is, to ensure that the trade mark is able to fulfil its functions. The exercise of that right must therefore be reserved to cases in which a third party's use of the sign affects or is liable to affect the functions of the trade mark (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C-236/08 to C-238/08 Google France and Google [2010] ECR I-0000, paragraph 75 and the case-law cited).
47. It follows, as the European Commission has pointed out, that the exclusive right of a Community trade mark proprietor and, hence, the territorial scope of that right, may not extend beyond what that right allows its proprietor to do in order to protect his trade mark, that is, to prohibit only uses which are liable to affect the functions of the trade mark. The acts or future acts of a defendant (namely the person whose use of the Community trade mark is complained of) which do not affect the functions of the Community trade mark, cannot therefore be prohibited.
48. Accordingly, if a Community trade mark court hearing a case in circumstances such as those of the main proceedings finds that the acts of infringement or threatened infringement of a Community trade mark are limited to a single Member State or to part of the territory of the European Union, in particular because the applicant for a prohibition order has restricted the territorial scope of its action in exercising its freedom to determine the extent of that action or because the defendant proves that the use of the sign at issue does not affect or is not liable to affect the functions of the trade mark, for example on linguistic grounds, that court must limit the territorial scope of the prohibition which it issues."
Conclusion