Recently the Court of Appeal handed down its judgement in the case of Asprey & Garrard Limited v WRA (Guns) Limited t/a (William R Asprey Esq) & another. This was an appeal from the first instance decision of Jacob J in a Part 24 application earlier this year.
The First Instance Decision
William R Asprey had set up a company called WRA (Guns) Limited (WRA) to trade in the same field as the world famous jewellers and gun sellers Asprey & Garrard (A&G). At first instance the judge held that WRA had both infringed A&G's "Asprey" trade mark and was guilty of passing off. The use of the word "Asprey" in the trading name "William R Asprey Esquire", was infringement under s10(1) Trade Marks Act 1994 (the Act) and it did not matter that WRA did not use "Asprey" alone. The judge held, following his earlier decision in British Sugar v James Robertson [1996] RPC 281, there had still been use of an "identical mark".
