Industrial Cleaning Equipment (Southampton) Ltd & anr (appellants) v Intelligent Cleaning Equipment Holdings Co Ltd & ors (respondents)
Monday 13 (2:00pm) – Tuesday 14 November 2023
This is an appeal against the Order of HHJ Melissa Clarke, dated 27 February 2023, who heard a liability-only trial of a trade mark infringement and passing off dispute and judgment was entered for the Claimant.
The Claimant, Industrial Cleaning Equipment (Southampton) Ltd (“C”) is a company which was incorporated in 1992. It operates a business providing retail, rental and maintenance services for commercial and consumer cleaning equipment. The business was originally set up in 1967 and run through another company of the same name from which C bought the goodwill and assets in 1992.
Over the years, C has carried out the business using the name ‘Industrial Cleaning Equipment’ and three versions of logos using the acronym ICE.
The First Defendant, Intelligent Cleaning Equipment Holdings Co. Ltd (“D1”) is part of the ICE group of companies whose ultimate parent company is Intelligent Cleaning Equipment Company, incorporated in the Cayman Islands (“ICE Group”). D1 was previously called International Cleaning Equipment Holdings Co. Ltd but changed its name to Intelligent Cleaning Equipment Holdings Co. Ltd on 15 December 2016. D1 holds the intellectual property rights for the ICE Group and is the registered proprietor of the ICE Group trade marks at issue in these proceedings.
Various members of the ICE Group have, since 2011, designed and manufactured floor cleaning machines in China which have been imported into the UK for distribution and sale since 2013.
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