Character World agrees out of court settlement

LICENSING business Character World has agreed an out of court settlement with a Birmingham textile business accused of copying its products and infringing its intellectual property.

Cheadle headquartered Character World, which is backed by Palatine Private Equity, works with brands including Disney, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Lego, Nickelodeon and Warner Bros to produce bedding products featuring well-known characters and supply retailers across the UK – these products also bear Character World’s trademarks.  

Birmingham-based textile business HIS Textiles was accused of importing and supplying counterfeit duvet cover sets featuring Character World’s trademarks and passing them off as being made by Character World.

The case reached settlement one week before it was due to be heard in the High Court of Justice.  

The settlement will see Character World paid a “substantial” undisclosed sum covering legal costs and compensation by the main defendant, Haji Ismail and Sons Limited trading as HIS Textiles.  

HIS Textiles also consented to judgment against them with a wide injunction that in future it would not infringe the intellectual property rights or trademarks of Character World or pass off any of its products as authentic Character World products.

Mark Schweiger, joint managing director of Character World, said: “We have built up a reputation over the past two decades for producing high quality products and supplying retailers across the globe. We will take any steps necessary to protect our name and that of our licensor partners across Europe that entrust us with their properties.  We have always believed in doing business fairly and I’m pleased that this case is now closed and a satisfactory conclusion reached.”

Ian Morris, head of intellectual property at law firm Kuits acted for Character World.

He said: “In this case there was a total denial of involvement by the main defendants but the persistence of the clients and our team uncovered evidence which made it improbable that the defence could have any prospects of success.  We believe that this directly led to judgment at the end of the day.”