Trade mark

The activities of the defendant, Marks and Spencer plc, which gave rise to the proceedings concerned the display on the internet of their advertisements in response to the entry into the Google search engine by internet users of search terms consisting of or comprising the word “interflora” or minor variants of it. The judge gave judgment for the claimants on their claim for infringement of their national and Community registered trade marks for the word “interflora”. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the defendant’s appeal, held, inter alia, that the judge had wrongly held that the onus lay on the third party advertiser to show that the use of the sign in context was sufficiently clear.