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Trade mark trolls reach the UK

By Ilanah

The IPKat has been tipped off about this story from the BBC about a trade mark "troll" who has registered or applied to register trade marks which correspond with the names of existing Scottish businesses and have then offered to sell or "lease" them to the businesses in question for large sums of money. The person in question appears to be targeting the juice bar sector and has registered 40-odd juice-related names.

The IPKat notes that the existing businesses may be able to oppose or invalidate registrations based on marks protected by passing off, and perhaps to rely on bad faith grounds. However, the Kat has a niggling doubt - is it truly bad faith to register in a first to file system?

Full post as published by IPKat on April 09, 2008 (boomark / email).