Bentley v Bentley: trade mark invalidity bid lost

Bentley Motors recent attempt to deem Bentley, a UK clothing company, trade mark invalid has failed.

Bentley Motors had claimed that from December 2008, when they applied for their EU trade mark, they had acquired an exceptional reputation in relation to high end motors. It has claimed that this reputation originated from 1920 when the Company started to use ‘Bentley in relation to jewellery and clothing. This was reflected in the inclusion of classes 14 and 18 in their registration.

Class 14 is for jewellery and watches where as class 18 are for leather and imitation of leather goods.

Bentley Motors used this mark and goodwill to make a declaration of invalidity in 2015 to deem Bentley, the clothing company’s trade mark UK mark confusingly similar to their EU mark.

Bentley clothing’s mark was registered in class 25 which covers clothing, footwear and headgear.

To combat this, Bentley clothing issued a counter statement in February 2016 arguing that Bentley Motors did not have any goodwill in clothing or jewellery.

The UK IPO handed down their decision on the 15^th March 2017 and stated that Bentley Motors had failed to show that they had sufficient evidence to prove the required level of goodwill in the stated goods. Therefore their application for invalidation has failed.

The decision also outlined that the Bentley Clothing mark had not taken unfair advantage of Bentley Motors.

This is a blow for Bentley Motors who tried to use their dominance in the market to eliminate the smaller business.

This is also another win for small businesses with genuine IP rights against the big shots.

To take advantage of the protection a registered trade mark can give you, contact The Trademarkroom today.

By Ellis Sweetenham