Chief Executive officer Adrian Fife has expressed his delight at the recent trademark ruling in favour of Hilife Music Group and acknowledges company legal representatives, Trade Mark Wizards, backed by Lord (Alan) Sugar, and the law firm's integral contribution in the successful outcome of the dispute
LONDON , August 25th, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Hilife Music Group has prevailed in its UK trademark and name dispute spanning a seven-year period against music company rivals Hilife Music Entertainment, for goods and services of music and entertainment in the trademarks of Hilife, Hilife Music and Hilife Music Group.
The dispute first began in 2016 when a business organisation registered Hilife Music Entertainment as a limited company, also registering Hilife Music Publishing and subsequently registering the trademarks Hilife and Hilife Music, to provide among other services, goods and services of music and entertainment, Hilife Music Group claimed to have goodwill in the name prior to Hilife Music Entertainment registrations.
Hilife Music Group putting into effect their earlier unregistered rights, argued that the use of the name Hilife, by Hilife Music Entertainment was a misrepresentation of the brand name that could damage the reputation of the already established Hilife brand in goods and services of music and entertainment in which they claimed to have several years of goodwill prior to Hilife Music Entertainment trademarks.
The Hilife Music Group legal team, additionally making the argument that the fundamental and defining factor of the Hilife Music Group name is "Hilife", and that the additional elements of the company name merely stated that they are a group of companies in addition to the goods and services that they provide, and that applying this principle to the company name Hilife Music Entertainment further highlighted the fact that both company names are highly similar and therefore use of the name "Hilife" by Hilife Music Entertainment is a misrepresentation of the name "Hilife" which would cause damage to the already established brand as well as confusion in the market place by means of presumed association or connection to Hilife Music Group, where there is none.
During earlier proceedings that were issued against Hilife Music Entertainment at The Company Names Tribunal, Hilife Music Group were unsuccessful in their legal effort for a compulsory change of name of Hilife Music Entertainment however, were aided by the legal ruling of this dispute which confirmed that Hilife Music Group had goodwill in the name "Hilife" prior to Hilife Music Entertainment's first use.
In the following trademark tribunal proceedings that took place, at the European Union Intellectual Property Office and through the UK Intellectual Property Office. Hilife Music Entertainment argued that they owned the trademarks for Hilife and Hilife Music whereas Hilife Music Group argued that they had earlier unregistered rights that they stated date back as far as 2007 when Hilife Music Group originally commenced operations, adding that the name Hilife Music was used from this time and was only later registered as a limited company in 2014, in addition to the name Hilife Music Group that was also used from 2007 but only later registered as a limited company in 2015, Hilife Music Group arguing nonetheless all taking place a number of years prior to Hilife Music Entertainment trade mark registrations.
The decision at the UK IPO adjudicated in December 2022 was granted in favour of Hilife Music Group, in accordance with UK IPO trade mark law. An appeal by Hilife Music Entertainment was recently decided at the UK IPO, and once again granted in favour of Hilife Music Group, with the original decision of December 2022 being upheld and Hilife Music Group being successful in removing Hilife Music Entertainment UK trademarks for goods and services of music and entertainment for the trademarks, Hilife, Hilife Music and Hilife Music Group.
A Hilife Music Group source said: "We have been using the name Hilife Music for many years now and have a longstanding reputation in music and entertainment, and for a third party to appear a number of years later and to register a highly similar mark for identical and highly similar goods and services, would inevitably cause confusion, In the initial stages of the seven-year dispute we asked Hilife Music Entertainment to change their name but they refused, making these proceedings necessary, the UK IPO having now seen the evidence, have ruled that Hilife Music Entertainment were in violation of our trademark rights. We are pleased that the UK IPO ruled in our favour."
In an official statement released by the Hilife Music Group CEO, Adrian Fife said, "This is a momentous occasion for myself and our company and all that are involved, as the seven-year timespan would suggest it has been a long and complex process, we are delighted that it has come to a successful conclusion.
We would like to give a special mention to our in-house legal department, in addition to thanking our long-standing company partners and legal representatives, Trade Mark Wizards, our lawyer, Neil Manani, and also our barristers Jamie Muir Wood and Kendal Watkinson from Hogarth Chambers together with Trade Mark Wizards company directors, Oliver Oguz, Kishore Devshi and Lord (Alan) Sugar.
We are very pleased with the result and Hilife Music Group look forward to continuing the real work of providing music and entertainment to the world."
UK Intellectual Property Office
BL Number O/1066/22
Media Contact
Press Manager, Press Office, 44 02071014077, [email protected], https://www.hilifemusicgroup.com/
SOURCE Hilife Music Group
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