Well known brand and general diet guru Weight Watchers got in a tight spot recently when rival brand, Love Bites, challenged their use of the trade mark WEIGHT WATCHERS, for being substantially similar to their own WAIST WATCHERS. This was in spite of the fairly significant fact that the latter was trademarked at a far later date than the former, the frankly much more well known WEIGHT WATCHERS. In response to this, Weight Watchers themselves commenced proceedings on the basis that Love Bites’ use of WAIST WATCHERS was infringing their trade mark by causing a likelihood of confusion and taking unfair advantage of their own WEIGHT WATCHERS trade mark. At the Case Management Conference, essentially a pre trial review of the procedural aspects of the case, the judge provided the parties with the chance to opt for a preliminary and non binding opinion on the matter. In his opinion, Judge Birss QC made it clear that there was a strong case that Love Bites had infringed Weight Watchers’ trade mark. Furthermore, the Judge was of the opinion that there was a high chance that the registration of the trade mark WAIST WATCHERS was invalid. Litigation is a notoriously expensive business, however, by providing a non binding opinion at this early stage, the judge was, hopefully, able to save the parties a significant amount of time and money.
