The Adjudicator’s decision comes only two months after the new legislation was introduced.
The Companies Act 2006 brought about many changes to the structure of company law, one of which included the introduction of the Company Names Adjudicator. The Adjudicator was introduced, amongst other reasons, to prevent speculative registration of potential new brands as company names, with the intention of extracting money from the brand owners for the rights to the company name.
In its first decision since the new legislation came into force the Adjudicator has made an order against the company ‘Coke Cola Limited’. The order states that Coke Cola Limited must change their name within one month to prevent any further contravention of the new legislation.
The Adjudicator deemed that Coke Cola was sufficiently similar to ‘Coca Cola’ and may therefore mislead the public and suggest a connection between the two brands.
The decision by the Adjudicator was relatively swift and following Coca Cola’s application on the 1st October 2008 was reached within 2 months. However, it should be noted that Coke Cola did not file a defence to the application, and therefore the decision was made in a shorter period than may perhaps be the norm.
What the decision does highlight however is the decisions by the Adjudicator under the new Company legislation can have retrospective effect. The legislation provides companies with the ability to seek quick, cheap and effective results against those abusing their names or trade marks by means other than through the law of passing off or trade mark claims.
If you require advice on any of the issues raised in this article please do not hesitate to contact our company commercial team at commercial@steeleslaw.co.uk or on 01603 598000.