In a recent case in the High Court, Laboratories Goemar SA v La Mer
Technology Inc, Jacob J. considered what level of use must be made of
a trade mark by its owner to be sufficient to counter an application for
revocation on the grounds of non-use. He decided it was a question of
sufficient importance to refer it to the European Court of Justice
(“ECJ”). However whilst so doing he also gave his own opinion that
“provided there is nothing artificial about a transaction under a mark
then it will amount to ‘genuine’ use. There is no lower limit of
‘negligible’.”
He found that even very slight use (£800 worth of sales) was sufficient
in his eyes to defeat a revocation application. The proprietor had been
“trying (albeit ineffectually) to build up a profitable trade under the
mark in this country.”
