Lengthy tribunal settles dispute over ‘hijacked’ trading name

A garage door company from Mansfield has won a tribunal against another local firm which it says “hijacked” its name, causing confusion amongst customers and suppliers.

Mansfield Garage Doors was temporarily forced to go by its holding company name Kirk Silo (Installations) after Look Services Limited allegedly adopted its trading name.

During the lengthy proceedings, Mansfield Garage Doors director Susan Kirk claimed that Look Services tried to “pass itself off and to rely upon the historical goodwill and reputation” of her company, and suggested it had done so in order to gain financial advantage.

A decision was eventually made in the original Mansfield Garage Doors’ favour.

The firm has now resumed trading as Mansfield Garage Doors Ltd, which apart from the “Ltd” had been its trading name for the last 35 years.

The respondent company was ordered, under the Companies Act 2006, to change its name within a month of the decision.

A spokesperson for Mansfield Garage Doors Ltd said: “It’s been a long road with lots of time, resources and emotions poured into it, however, we welcome the outcome and are very pleased with the result. Our business has been trading for over 50 years and for another local company to hijack our name was very disappointing!

“We welcome healthy competition, however, this action by another local company was not what we would expect of our local competition. We now feel sense and justice has prevailed. Our holding Limited Company name was different to our trading name and the reason for this difference was out of respect and values to the family name.”