Trademark infringement is using a sign that is the same as, or too close to, someone else's registered trademark, for goods or services where it causes a problem. The UK courts have spent decades deciding where that line falls, and a handful of cases now set the rules everyone else is judged by. These are the trademark infringement cases I think every business owner can learn from, and what they mean in practice before you send, or receive, a cease and desist letter.
What counts as trademark infringement in the UK?
In simple terms, there are three routes, and most cases turn on one of them:
Identical sign, identical goods
The clearest case. If someone uses your exact registered mark on the same products, that's usually infringement.
Similar sign, similar goods, and a likelihood of confusion
The courts look at the overall impression through the eyes of the average consumer: how alike the marks look, sound and mean, how close the goods are, and how distinctive the earlier mark is.
A mark with a reputation
A well-known brand can stop use that takes unfair advantage of its reputation, or damages it, even without confusion.
Passing off
Protection for an unregistered brand where there's goodwill, a misrepresentation and damage. It's harder to prove, which is one reason registration matters.
Running alongside all three is passing off: protection for an unregistered brand where there's goodwill, a misrepresentation and damage. It's harder to prove, which is one reason registration matters.
Selling online: when does a website count as selling in the UK?
Lifestyle Equities v Amazon
The Supreme Court found that Amazon infringed Lifestyle's trademarks because its amazon.com website was, on the facts, targeting UK and EU shoppers with goods bearing marks identical to Lifestyle's registered trademarks. A website based abroad can still infringe a UK trademark if it is aimed at UK customers.
Read our summaryArgos v Argos Systems
The other side of the coin. A software business based outside the UK earned advertising income from UK visitors who reached its similarly named website by mistake. The court accepted the site targeted the UK and that the necessary link with the Argos mark was made, but found no unfair advantage had been taken. Targeting the UK is only the first hurdle.
Read our summaryOracle v M-Tech Data
A trademark owner kept its right to stop genuine goods being put on the market in the EEA for the first time without its consent, and that right was not undone by free movement or competition law arguments. "Genuine" goods are not automatically fair game.
Read our summaryHow close is too close?
Iconix (Umbro) v Dream Pairs
The Supreme Court held that Dream Pairs' footwear logo did not infringe Umbro's trademarks. In doing so it overturned the Court of Appeal's decision to redo the similarity and confusion assessment itself. The trial judge's overall impression carries real weight, and appeals on "how similar" are hard to win.
Read our summarySpecsavers v Asda
Asda's logo and straplines did not cause confusion with Specsavers, but parts of its campaign rode unfairly on Specsavers' reputation and infringed its trademarks. A clever advert can be lawful in one line and infringing in the next.
Read our summaryComic 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. Size doesn't decide these cases; the register and the evidence do.
Read our summaryMatch Group v Muzmatch
MUZMATCH infringed the MATCH trademarks and amounted to passing off. A decade of trading side by side did not provide a defence of honest concurrent use. Time alone doesn't make a similar name safe.
Read our summaryCan you always use your own name?
Reed Executive v Reed Business Information
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. The own name defence can work, if the use is honest.
Read our summaryASSOS v ASOS
ASOS's sign would have infringed the ASSOS cycling brand's trademark, but ASOS relied successfully on the own name defence, so no injunction followed. Parts of both sides' registrations were also cut back.
Read our summaryMerck KGaA v Merck Sharp & Dohme
Two unrelated businesses sharing the Merck name fought over a decades-old coexistence agreement. Breach of contract findings were largely upheld, while the infringement issues were sent back for a fresh hearing. If you share a name with another business, the agreement between you matters as much as the register.
Read our summarySearch ads, domain names and directors
Interflora v Marks and Spencer
The leading UK case on bidding for a competitor's brand name as a search keyword. The Court of Appeal found legal errors in the first decision and ordered a fresh hearing rather than deciding the outcome itself. Keyword bidding is not automatically lawful or unlawful; it depends on what the advert tells the searcher.
Read our summaryPhones4u v Phone4u.co.uk
Phones 4u had built enough goodwill by 1999 to stop a rival's near-identical domain name through passing off, even though its trademark claim failed because of a colour limitation on its registered logo. How you register a mark can decide whether it helps you.
Read our summaryThe Lifestyle Equities directors case
Company directors are not jointly liable for their company's trademark infringement, or ordered to hand over profits, unless they knew the facts that made the company's use of the sign infringing.
Read our summaryWhen the registration itself is the problem
SkyKick v Sky
Sky's SKY registrations were partly invalid because it never intended to use them for huge swathes of the goods and services they covered, restoring earlier findings of bad faith. A registration that claims far more than the business will ever do can be cut back when it's tested.
Read our summaryLondon Taxi Corporation v Frazer-Nash
The shape of the traditional black cab could not be protected as a trademark, because consumers did not see the shape itself as identifying one manufacturer. Not everything recognisable is a trademark.
Read our summaryWhat I’d take from these trademark infringement cases
- 1What I'd take from this is that the register does most of the work. The cases above were won and lost on what was registered, for which goods and services, and whether it was actually used.
- 2Evidence of real confusion carries weight, but its absence after years of trading side by side doesn't always save the newcomer.
- 3Websites based abroad, search adverts and domain names are all within reach of UK trademark law when they're aimed at UK customers.
- 4Defences such as using your own name exist, but they depend on honest use. They are a fallback, not a plan.
- 5Registering far more than you will use can backfire. Narrow and well chosen beats broad and unused.
If someone is using a name or logo too close to yours, a cease and desist letter is usually the first step, and our brand protection service handles the dispute from there. If you're the one launching a name, a trademark search shows what's already on the register, you can register a trademark that covers what you actually sell, and trademark monitoring tells you when someone gets too close.
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 28 October 2026. Report an error.
