Hickman & Rose’s client, the specialist intellectual property law firm Stobbs, has succeeded in striking out an application for contempt of court made against it, and two of its solicitors, in the course of ongoing IP litigation.
As reported in both Law 360 and Managing IP, Stobbs was alleged to have interfered with the due administration of justice by seeking to prevent an order to register a trademark from having its “normal (and intended) effect”.
The contempt application was brought by a UK wholesaler which had applied to the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) to register a trademark.
It was alleged that emails sent to the UKIPO by Stobbs’ lawyers which requested the wholesalers’ trademark not be registered until the outcome of any appeal amounted to contempt of court.
In January this year, Hickman & Rose, acting for Stobbs, applied to strike out the claim on the grounds that it was abuse of process and/or lacked reasonable grounds.
The High Court granted the application to strike out the contempt proceedings, noting that there is “nothing improper” in a person interested in the (non) registration of a trademark submitting that registration should not yet take place.
In his judgment, HHJ Matthews noted that what happened in this case was an “increasing problem for the courts” and that “this slows down the litigation and consumes a lot of time and money. It is trite to say that the contempt jurisdiction is being ‘weaponised’ in a way that it has not been before.”
Stefano Ruis and Katherine Sorab, together with counsel Fiona Horlick KC and Charlotte Elves, acted for Stobbs
The full ruling is available here.
