Passing Off
Excavation & Contracting (UK) Ltd. v Excavation & Contracting Ltd. and others HH Judge Maddocks 1 Mar 2002
I was junior counsel for the defendant in this case. In addition to appearing at the trial, I settled the defence, advised on evidence in conference and in writing, edited the witness statements, prepared the skeleton arguments and argued for costs at the end of the trial.
This was an unusual case. The court was required to consider precisely what is meant by goodwill, how it may be acquired and indeed whether it may transfer from a company in liquidation to a new company formed by the person behind the old company to carry on its trade. These are issues upon which there was precious little authority.
The facts of the case, the arguments and a summary of the decision are to be found in Yatoni Cole-Wilson's case note which appears on the IP/IY Update website.
