Trademark infringement damages are the money a court orders an infringer to pay, alongside the other things a winning trademark owner can ask for: the infringer's profits, an order to stop, and a share of the legal costs. What you actually recover usually depends on who you sue, what you can prove and how the case was run. These cases show how the UK courts have handled the money side of trademark disputes, and why a cease and desist letter is often the cheaper place to start.
What are trademark infringement damages?
In simple terms, there are four things a court can award, and a case can involve more than one:
- Damages. Compensation for what the infringement cost you. Where someone has falsely traded on your name, this can be what you'd normally charge for the right to use it.
- An account of profits. An order for the infringer to hand over the profit it made from the infringement.
- An injunction. A court order to stop using the name, logo or tagline.
- Costs. A contribution to your legal fees. Costs can be split where each side succeeded on some points.
None of these follows automatically. You first have to win on infringement or passing off, and the way the money is worked out can be argued over separately.
Damages or profits: how much?
Talksport endorsement case
A radio station used a doctored photo of a Formula One driver to suggest the driver endorsed it. The Court of Appeal confirmed that falsely implying a celebrity endorsement is passing off, and raised the damages from £2,000 to £25,000. The award can reflect what a real endorsement deal would have cost.
Summary coming soonHollister v Medik
A parallel importer, a business reselling genuine goods bought in another market, failed to give the trademark owners the notice required before selling. It had to hand over its full net profits with no proportionate discount, and couldn't deduct general overheads without proof they related to the infringement. Skipping a required step can cost all the profit, not a share of it.
Summary coming soonLifestyle Equities v Frasers
A trademark owner could not recover, in its own infringement claim, losses suffered by sub-licensees whose licences had not been registered, and that claim was out of time in any event. Register your licences promptly, or the losses your licensees suffer may be out of reach.
Read our summaryWho pays: the company or its directors?
Lifestyle Equities directors case
Directors who personally drove a company's infringing trading were jointly liable with it as accessories. But the account of profits against them was limited to the profit they personally made, not the whole of the company's profit.
Read our summaryLifestyle Equities directors case
The Supreme Court ruled that directors can't be made jointly liable for their company's infringement, or ordered to account for profits, unless they knew the facts that made the company's use of the sign infringing. Going after directors personally usually means proving what they knew.
Read our summaryStopping the use: injunctions
Specsavers v Asda
After finding that Asda's "spec saver" campaign infringed Specsavers' trademarks, the Court of Appeal granted a broad injunction and split the costs to reflect that Specsavers had only partly succeeded. Winning on your strongest point doesn't mean you recover all your costs.
Read our summaryLumos Skincare v Sweet Squared
After an earlier finding of passing off, the Court of Appeal ruled that a rival's EU trademark registration could not narrow the injunction, though the losing side was given a short grace period to adapt its business. A later registration for the same name doesn't protect you from someone else's earlier goodwill.
Summary coming soonBefore any money: winning the claim
Comic Enterprises v Twentieth Century Fox
A small UK chain of comedy and music venues called the Glee Club won against the makers of the TV show Glee, partly on evidence that fans of the show thought the venues were connected to it. A registered trademark can beat a much bigger brand, and that is what opens the door to any remedy.
Read our summaryReed Executive v Reed Business Information
A business using its own company name on a jobs website did not infringe the REED trademark or amount to passing off, apart from an early version of the site that had since been dropped. Where the use is lawful, there's nothing to pay for, and context matters.
Read our summaryCosts, threats and the bills you don't expect
Cartier v British Telecommunications
Internet service providers, as innocent go-betweens, were entitled to be reimbursed by trademark owners for the reasonable cost of blocking websites selling counterfeits. If you want a site blocked, expect to cover the providers' compliance costs yourself.
Read our summaryInterflora v Marks and Spencer
After finding problems with the original trial, the Court of Appeal ordered a full retrial of the remaining keyword advertising claims before a different judge, and dealt with interim costs and payment issues. Winning an appeal doesn't end a case; costs and next steps can take another hearing.
Read our summaryBargain Busting v SKE Technology
A company accused of making unjustified threats of trademark infringement proceedings can't be ordered to stop repeating them unless the business on the receiving end shows it is more likely than not to win at trial. An unjustified threat can create its own claim, but stopping one early sets a high bar.
Read our summaryWhat I’d take from these trademark damages cases
- 1What I'd take from this is that money comes last. You have to win on infringement or passing off first, and the remedy is often argued over separately.
- 2Paperwork pays. Registering licences and following the required steps before selling can decide whether losses or profits are recoverable at all.
- 3Directors are only personally exposed in limited circumstances, and even then usually only for their own profit.
- 4A partial win can mean partial costs. In Specsavers, the bill was split to reflect who succeeded on what.
- 5Enforcement has its own price, from blocking orders to the risk of a threats claim if a letter goes too far.
If someone is using a name or logo too close to yours, a cease and desist letter is usually the first step, and it's written to make the point without straying into an unjustified threat. Our brand protection service handles the dispute if it goes further. Before you launch, a trademark search shows what's already on the register, you can register a trademark so you have something to enforce, and trademark monitoring spots copycats early, before the costs mount.
Book a free call, email enquiries@thetrademarkhelpline.com or ring 0161 833 5400.
Related questions
This page is for information purposes only and does not constitute trademark advice or guidance. Case summaries are drawn from published UK judgments; summaries drafted with AI assistance and checked by The Trademark Helpline (how we write these). Last reviewed 30 October 2026.
