Member Article

Design companies secure claims with help from NE law firm

Greeting card and gift designer Caroline Gardner and two other designers recently turned to a North East law firm in a bid to protect their designs from being copied after spotting look-alikes on display at key trade fairs.

Caroline Gardner, design-led party accessory specialist Talking Tables, and luggage designer, Picture Case Ltd each appointed McDaniel and Co, the Jesmond-based City-styled without City-prices law firm, to act on their behalf in relation to a number Intellectual Property rights claims.

In the case of Caroline Gardner, the card designer was alerted to the fact that Goldbach, a German based company, was selling copies of some of her designs at Paperworld, an international trade fair in Frankfurt, as well as advertising the designs on its website.

Taking prompt action and working closely with Gardner’s German agents, McDaniel & Co. issued take down requests and letters showing rights which resulted in the copied cards being removed from Goldbach’s exhibition stand.

In a second case, Talking Tables with help from McDaniel & Co. successfully challenged Ginger Ray, designers of special occasion party supplies, by delivering a letter before action which clearly stated Talking Tables’ claim on the designs in question. This action resulted in Ginger ray removing the relevant designs from sale and paying legal costs for Talking Tables.

Speaking about this latest attack on its IP Mark McCormack, director of Talking Tables, said: “We make significant investment in design and new product development and we take any perceived infringement of our IP very seriously.

“We were pleased with the outcome achieved and the support we received from McDaniel and Co. The company will continue to be vigilant and where necessary take legal action to protect the originality our designs are known for.”

Finally, acting for luggage designer Picture Case, McDaniel & Co. secured damages and a signed undertaking from Norwegian company Nye Notabene AS (Notabene), after it began selling products which were identical to the Penguin, Panda, Ladybird and Bee designs used in Picture Case’s range of suitcases and back packs.

The luggage designer has Community Registered Designs in relation to all of these designs and although Norway is not in the EU, Notabene were selling into the EU and therefore infringed Picture Case’s registered design rights, unregistered design rights and copyright.

Commenting on the law firm’s success at challenging cases in both the UK and overseas, partner and leading IP specialist, Niall Head-Rapson said: “By adopting a policy of enforcing their rights and acting quickly in situations of this type, businesses such as Picture Case, Caroline Gardner and Talking Tables quickly gain a reputation within their industry as companies who do not tolerate IP infringement.

“Our message to anyone who designs their own products is, make sure you protect your IP and to anyone thinking of copying someone else’s design, is think again as you will most likely end up paying damages.”

McDaniel and Co. is the only law firm in the north east to have a dedicated IP team.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Leigh Chelton .