Yorkshire online giant defeats North West rival in High Court case
THE High Court has ruled in favour of Yorkshire online retailer Victoria Plum against a North West rival over keyword trademark infringement claims.
Liverpool-based competitor Victorian Plumbing allegedly paid to advertise in search engine results for the Victoria Plum brand name.
Victoria Plum, which is headquartered in Hessle and has a major distribution centre in Doncaster, is now seeking damages from its rival.
The court found that Victorian Plumbing was spending “hundreds of thousands of pounds” per year on advertising that had been found liable for trademark infringement using ‘pay per click’ advertising on Google.
Both companies have been trading since 2001, and Victoria Plum in July 2015 changed its name from Victoria Plumb.
The company accused its Merseyside-based rival of displaying advertising on search terms related to their name and branding. It said this was infringement on the grounds that clients Googling these terms would be looking for the site and information on its company, rather than Victorian Plumbing.
Founder and chief executive Jason Walker, who appeared as a witness in the case, sold his stake in Victoria Plum in April 2014 to private equity firm TPG.
Between 2009 and 2015, turnover at Victoria Plum grew from £8.2m to £72.3m.
The court ascertained that managing director of Victorian Plumbing Mark Radcliffe began to trade the company a few months before Victoria Plumb in 2001.
The week long court hearing took place at the High Court in London in October this year.
Paul McClenaghan, chief executive officer at VictoriaPlum.com, welcomed the ruling stating “We know our potential customers are over 20 times more likely to know the VictoriaPlum.com brand than that of Victorian Plumbing.
“The court found that Victorian Plumbing acted unlawfully, infringed our trademarks and was increasing and exacerbating confusion for customers.
“We were left with no option but to take legal action against Victorian Plumbing to protect our customers and we are pleased that our concerns have been vindicated. We will now seek substantial damages from Victorian Plumbing through continued legal action.”
