Sofa retailer DFS battles it out in court with rival

FURNITURE retailer DFS is suing a competitor over an intellectual property dispute.

The Doncaster-based retailer has launched a complaint against Sofaworks – which changed its name from CSL in 2013 – about the use of “sofaworks”.

A spokesperson for DFS told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We can confirm that The Sofa Workshop has a trade mark dispute with Sofaworks.

“As it is currently in the hands of the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court DFS will not be commenting until a judgement is made.”

Chief executive of DFS Ian Filby and Sofaworks owner Jason Tyldesley attended court yesterday, according to Retail Week. A judgement is scheduled to be made on June 29.

DFS floated on the stock market in early March and is enjoying buoyant sales, with revenues for the first half to January 31 up 10.5% to £431.2m, although it resulted in a pre-tax loss of £14.4m.

DFS employs 3,500 people and has been opening new stores in a period of expansion, with their first store in the Netherlands as well as a new York branch.