Cases

Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd & Others v Vetplus Ltd (CA)

Held

A trade mark infringement action is more than merely a claim to protect the claimant’s reputation. It is a claim to protect the property rights attached to a trade mark. Bonnard v Perryman is too simply an invoked rule to be appropriate for trade mark infringement, even in a case of comparative advertising. Unless the defendant puts in credible material going to justification then an injunction should be granted. Therefore, the rule in Bonnard v Perryman does not apply to trade mark infringement. Instead, the general threshold which must be crossed by the claimant is that he will probably succeed at trial: section 12(3) of the Human Rights Act 1998 and Cream applies. However, on a review of the evidence the Judge was correct to find that the Claimants had not shown that they are more likely to succeed than not. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed.

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