SKE Loses The “Crystal Bar” Trademark Case in UK

The UK High Court recently ruled that SKE’s evidence was insufficient and upheld the decision of the Intellectual Property Office to reject the objection.

The UK High Court recently ruled to officially reject the appeal request of Chinese vape company Shenzhen SKE Technology Co. Ltd. to prevent its rival Bargain Busting Ltd. from registering the “Crystal Bar” trademark in the UK. The court found that SKE failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that it had a protectable goodwill of the “Crystal Bar” brand in the UK prior to the competitor’s application (May 2022).

Plaintiff: Shenzhen SKE Technology Co., Ltd.
Chinese vape brand SKE claims that “Crystal Bar” is its prior brand in the UK market, raises objections, and appeals against the trademark dispute.

Defendant: Bargain Busting Limited.
Local companies in the UK. In May 2022, the trademark registration application for “Crystal Bar” (No. 3786148) was submitted by the UK market sales party. Despite objections being raised, the registration process continued.

Case content:
SKE attempted to prevent Bargain Busting from registering “Crystal Bar” through objections and appeals, claiming that it had established goodwill in the UK before the application date and asserting prior use rights.

Judgment result: The UK High Court ruled that SKE failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that it has a protected goodwill in the UK, upholding the UKIPO’s decision to reject the objection, and Bargain Busting won the case.

Legal background: The UK trademark law adopts a “first come, first served” system, and the objector must prove that they have actual goodwill in the UK before the application date, otherwise registration cannot be prevented.

As early as November 2023, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) rejected SKE’s objection application and supported Bargain Busting’s registration application for “Crystal Bar”. SKE disagreed and subsequently appealed to the High Court.

As early as November 2023, the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) rejected SKE’s objection application and supported Bargain Busting’s registration application for “Crystal Bar”. SKE disagreed and subsequently appealed to the High Court.

Acting judge Michael Tappin KC stated in the ruling that SKE’s evidence was insufficient to prove significant brand awareness or stable commercial use in the UK market, and the original ruling of UKIPO was “not lacking in rationality, on the contrary”. He also rejected SKE’s claim that the UKIPO inference was unreasonable.

According to the UK’s “first to apply” principle, in order to oppose someone else’s registration of a trademark, the opposing party must establish identifiable goodwill in the UK before the application date. This ruling means that SKE has failed to prove its prior rights to the brand.
It is worth mentioning that although the High Court had previously banned Bargain Busting from pressuring retailers in the name of trademark infringement in another case in May this year, citing that monetary compensation cannot compensate for potential business damage, this ruling is undoubtedly a key victory for Bargain Busting. The judge pointed out that SKE’s objection to this application has been rejected, which will also affect his opposition process to the other seven related trademarks.

At present, both parties are still in multiple rounds of litigation in the UK High Court and UKIPO over the “Crystal” series of trademarks. The case number is CH-2024-000288.