St James’ Square helps Old English Company with New Look keyring copyright claim

A law firm has helped a giftware supplier secure a “brilliant” copyright settlement with a national retailer.

St James’ Square worked with Old English Company to protect its intellectual property against   New Look.

The row centred on the latter’s sale of a keyring, which was near identical to one produced by Old English Company [pictured, above].

Carrying the words ‘You’ve Got This’, Old English Company argued New Look’s product used the same style, layout, lettering and font colouring.

Old English, which previously settled a copyright infringement claim with a national supermarket chain, engaged Newcastle-based St James’ Square’s dispute resolution team to begin pre-action correspondence with New Look.

Following several rounds of discussions with the retailer and its legal representative, the matter was settled.

The case is the latest in a number of recent intellectual property battles, which have included Darlington-based House of Zana’s successful refutation of trademark claims by Zara, and Marks & Spencer’s claim against Aldi over its ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ product.

Connor Cartledge, solicitor in the dispute resolution team, said: “Old English works very hard to design and create products, which are sold in leading retailers such as Harrods and Selfridges.

 

• Old English Company’s keyring, right, and New Look’s near identical example

 

“I am very pleased Old English has successfully enforced its intellectual property rights and achieved a brilliant settlement with New Look.

“Our dispute resolution team always endeavours to obtain the best possible settlement for clients, and I am happy to have done so again for Old English.”

Benjamin Treanor, of Old English Company, added: “I’m very pleased with the result.

“Being in the situation where you feel your work or products have been copied is never enjoyable, however, the process of the claim has been straightforward and beneficial to us.

“Without Connor, and the team at St James’ Square, we would not have had such a good result.”