Directors' Accessory Liability For Company Torts

The UK's top court recently clarified in the context of registered trade marks infringement the law regarding directors' accessory liability for torts committed by their companies.

Registered trade marks infringement is a tort of strict liability. This means that there is an infringement where a defendant, without consent in the course of trade, does an act exclusively reserved to the trade mark owner, e.g., supplying services under the mark, irrespective of the defendant's knowledge and/or intent.

The issue before the UK Supreme Court in Lifestyle Equities v. Ahmed (2024) was whether this test of strict liability also applies to accessories of the primary infringer.

Accessory liability