Tourist trap: popular design held invalid

A design, which is probably familiar to many, has been held invalid by Recorder Douglas Campbell QC in a decision at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC).

Background

The claimant brought a claim against Posh Fashion for infringement of his two registered designs (dated May 18, 2011), which were for the front and back of a hoody and tee-shirt bearing a legend that consists of the word ‘London’, the Union flag and the word ‘England’ (the “London+Flag+England” legend).  The designs are shown below (registration numbers 4 020 066 and 4 020 067 respectively).

Figure 1: The claimant’s registered designs