The soft drinks company Coca Cola made an application to the Company Names Tribunal stating that Coke Cola Limited (A company registered in England earlier this year) was misleading and opportunistic and that it was taking advantage of Coca Colas trademarks.

This was the first application made under the Companies Act 2006 which came in to force on 1 October 2008. This procedure came in to force to deal with abusive registrations. See our previous article which sets out further details with regards to this: http://www.lawdit.co.uk/reading_room/room/view_article.asp?name=../articles/New%20UK%20IPO%20Tribunal.htm

Coke Cola Limited did not file a response to the application and therefore the application was unopposed. The judicator ordered Coke Cola Limited to change its name within one month of the decision, pay £700 (representing £400 application fee and £300 contribution towards costs). If Coke Cola Limited does not change its name then the adjudicator will choose a new name for the company. The full decision can be seen at: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/o31808.pdf

Izaz Ali izaz.ali@lawdit.co.uk is a commercial lawyer who specialises in information technology law and intellectual property law with an emphasis on IT, escrow and buying and selling online businesses.