Cases

Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd & Others v Vetplus Ltd (ChD)

Facts

The Claimants and Defendant compete in the market for nutritional supplements for animals. The Defendant intended to make certain public statements, including adverts in the veterinary press, to the effect that one of the Claimants’ products contained significantly less of its principal active ingredient than claimed on its label. In making such claims the Defendant intended to use the Claimants’ trading name, and that of their product, both of which are registered UK and EC trade marks. The Claimants sought an interim injunction to restrain the Defendant’s publications, on the basis that they would amount to malicious falsehood and constitute an infringing use of the Claimants’ trade marks. The Defendant resisted on the ground that it based what it said on the truth of the results of scientific tests and was therefore protected against an interim injunction by the rule against prior restraint of Bonnard v Perryman.

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