It's not often that an English trade mark dispute is tried outside London, but Tubzee Ltd v Safron Foods Ltd, Tanvir Hussain and Mudassar Mahboob [2008] EWHC B15 (Ch), heard by His Honour Judge Behrens sitting as a Deputy Judge of the Chancery Division, was heard 200 miles north of London in Leeds last Tuesday.

Tubzee, which had traded since 2000, owned several trade marks including a UK trade mark with a stylised "K" (including an elongated dropped tail) and a Community trade mark featuring two traditional India matka pots pouring a white liquid over ice cubes (shown above). Following a re-design in 2006, Safron Ltd also sold its ice cream under a design that included a "K" with a dropped tail and two circular pots pouring a white liquid. The High Court held for Tubzee, concluding that there was a likelihood of confusion between the parties' products as well as passing-off. More significantly the court considered that the second and third defendants -- former directors of Safron who had since resigned -- were still de jure or quasi-directors who, having been held to have procured Safron to commit infringing acts, were themselves personally liable.