Musical Fidelity had registered its name as a trade mark in
respect of its hi-fi products. The mark has also been used in about
14 domain names owned by the company, including
MusicalFidelity.com, the address to which the .co.uk name now
re-directs traffic.
David Vickers, owner of Vickers Hi-Fi registered the domain name
MusicalFidelity.co.uk without the manufacturer's knowledge or
permission – although, at the time of registration, he was an
authorised distributor of Musical Fidelity's products. He lost his
authorised distributor status in June 2001, but continued to use
the web address.
Musical Fidelity claimed that the registration of the domain
name constituted infringement of its trade mark. The company also
accused Vickers of passing off, arguing that the continued use of
the name could mislead users to believe that he was still an
authorised distributor of Musical Fidelity's products.
In a summary judgement (which means that no trial took place),
the lower court accepted Musical Fidelity's arguments and found
that Vickers' activities were damaging its reputation and
goodwill.
The court added that Vickers had also infringed copyright laws,
because he published on his company's web site letters sent by
Musical Fidelity's solicitors, accompanied by his comments on their
contents.
Vickers appealed the decision, claiming that a summary judgment
should not have been awarded because the issues arising from the
case should be resolved in a trial. His appeal was rejected
yesterday by the court, which found "no triable issue" in respect
of Vickers' "deliberate and misleading use" of the mark in the
domain name.
