Its not easy to get an injunction!

The High Court this month refused an interim injunction in a passing off action concerning the use of a descriptive phrase 'FREEPRINTS'.

My first reaction was how on earth did the Claimant think it would succeed in the first place? It argued that there was a serious issue to be tried; they had generated substantial goodwill as a result of extensive use of the sign "FREEPRINTS".

The Defendant argued that there was no serious issue to be tried; "FREE PRINTS" was descriptive; the claimants did not enjoy a monopoly over such descriptive use. That should have been that.

But the Claimant's persisted and persisted and eventually lost its attempts at the injunction and if it persists in taking this to trial will also lose the claim ( in my opinion!)

[2019] EWHC 1688 (Ch), 2019 WL 03752474