In Scandecor Development AB (SD) v Scandecor Marketing AB (SM) (unreported, 4 April 2001), the House of Lords referred to the European Court of Justice a number of important questions on the licensing of trade marks.
In Scandecor, the parent company ("ParentCo") was jointly owned by a Mr Huldtgren and a Mr Hjert. ParentCo owned UK trade registrations for SCANDECOR and distributed its poster products bearing the SCANDECOR name in the UK through its sole distributor and wholly owned subsidiary, SubsidCo.
In 1984 there was a reorganisation of the group, following which Mr Haldtgren owned SubsidCo and Mr Hjert ParentCo. Following this re-organisation, SubsidCo remained sole UK distributor for Scandecor posters originating from ParentCo and was also exclusively licensed to develop and sell its own cards and calendars under the SCANDECOR name in the UK. This licence contained no provisions allowing ParentCo to control the quality of the licensed card and calendar products put on the
