Lifestyle Equities v Frasers Group: unregistered sub-licensees’ losses can’t be claimed
Lifestyle Equities CVvFrasers Group Trading
- Court
- Court of Appeal
- Judgment
- 12 May 2026
- Citation
- [2026] EWCA Civ 583
Register trademark licences promptly, or you may lose the right to claim for a licensee's losses.
Lifestyle Equities tried to claim damages for losses suffered by its sub-licensees in its own infringement case against Frasers Group. The Court of Appeal said no, because the sub-licences were never registered and the claim was also brought too late.
What happened
Lifestyle Equities and its exclusive licensee had already sued Frasers Group for trademark infringement. Years later, during the process of working out how much damages were owed, Lifestyle Equities tried to add in losses suffered by various sub-licensees under section 30(6) of the Trade Marks Act 1994. The problem was that most of those sub-licences had never been registered on the UK trademark register. Frasers Group applied for summary judgment, a short cut that ends a claim early without a full trial, arguing that registration was a precondition for this kind of claim and that it had been brought too late anyway.
What did the court decide in Lifestyle Equities CV v Frasers Group Trading?
The Court of Appeal held that section 30(6) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, which lets a licensee's losses be taken into account in the proprietor's own infringement claim, is entirely a protection for licensees. That means it falls within section 25(3)(b), which withholds certain licensee protections until the licence is registered. Because the sub-licences were unregistered, those losses couldn't be claimed. The court also found that a claim for a licensee's losses is a separate legal claim with its own limitation period, and on the facts this one had been brought too late. Summary judgment was granted dismissing the sub-licensees' loss claims.
What we learned from this
- What I'd take from this is that leaving a trademark licence unregistered isn't just paperwork tidying, it can mean losing the ability to claim for that licensee's losses years down the line.
- If you license out a name, logo or tagline, get the licence registered on the UK trademark register as soon as possible, not after a dispute has already started.
- Claims for a licensee's losses run on their own limitation clock. Don't assume you can raise them late in a damages inquiry just because the main infringement case is still live.
- The court left open whether registering a licence late can still protect earlier infringements, so don't treat delayed registration as a safe fallback.
Things to be aware of
- The judgment doesn't decide whether registering a licence late can still cover infringements that happened before the registration application, so this remains an open question.
- This only deals with sub-licensees' losses being claimed through the proprietor's case. It doesn't change the proprietor's own right to sue for infringement of its own registered trademark.
- Limitation periods for a licensee's loss claim run separately from the main infringement claim, so timing matters even if the underlying case is still ongoing.
The businesses involved
Lifestyle Equities CV
Trademark proprietor and claimant in long-running litigation against Frasers Group over use of its registered marks.
Frasers Group Trading Limited
Registered in England and Wales in 1997 as Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited, later renamed. Active company based in Shirebrook retailing sporting goods and apparel, and holds 112 trademarks on the UK trademark register.
- Companies House
- 03406347 Active
- Incorporated
- July 1997
- Registered office
- Shirebrook
- Business activity
- Other retail sale of new goods in specialised stores
- UK trademarks
- 112
What others said about it
- Simmons & Simmons said the ruling makes registration of trademark licences a key practical step, since unregistered licences can leave a licensee's losses unrecoverable.Source: Simmons Simmons, May 2026
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This page is for information purposes only and does not constitute trademark advice or guidance. Summary drafted with AI assistance from the published judgment and checked by The Trademark Helpline (how we write these). Judgment: [2026] EWCA Civ 583 on Find Case Law, published under the Open Justice Licence. Company details from Companies House; trademark counts from the UK trademark register. Last reviewed 26 October 2026. Report an error.
