The courts took another step into the digital future this week when a judge accepted a court order served through Instagram.
Fox Williams intellectual property partner Simon Bennett used Instagram to serve notice on behalf of claimant Holland Cooper. Permission to serve notice using Instagram in addition to email was granted by District Judge Lambert.
The case is an infringement claim over clothing brand Holland Cooper’s design rights in ladies’ fashion capes, and will be heard in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) division of the High Court. The defendant is active on social media but is believed to be out of the country.
Bennett said: ‘I understand that this is the first time that the IPEC division has granted a court order to be served by way of Instagram.
‘This paves the way for court orders to be served on defendants via the social media channel that they access regularly.’
