Competition/Anti-trust Litigation

LIFESTYLE EQUITIES CV v ROYAL COUNTY OF BERKSHIRE POLO CLUB CASE NO. IL-2018-000115, [2023] EWHC 1839 (Ch) BACKGROUND The Claimants, Lifestyle Equities CV and an associated company, owners of the Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC) brand brought an action against the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club (RCBPC), its directors, its former licensing agent, the director of that former licensing agent and six overseas companies (some of which were current or former licensees of RCBPC) operating in Chile, Panama, Peru, Mexico and the UAE (together “the Overseas Territories”) for infringement of the BHPC registered trade mark in the UK, EU and the Overseas Territories. BHPC’s principle claim was that the RCBPC marks, both depicting a polo rider on a horse (including that at fig. 1 below), were confusingly similar to the BHPC mark (fig. 2 below) which also depicting a polo rider on a horse. BHPC sought an injunction and damages in respect of RCBPC’s use of its marks which it said constituted trade mark infringement under section 10(2) and 10(3) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (“TMA”).