Karen Davies Sugarcraft Ltd v David Croft is a 9 June decision of Judge Hacon in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, England and Wales.  A fairly quiet sort of case, it was an infringement action in which the plaintiff had a Community registered design for a cake mould and the defendant sought to argue that, taking account of the prior art which should narrow the scope of protection given to the registered design, the defendant's imported cake moulds did not actually infringe.  

The plaintiff sought summary judgment on the basis that the defendant had no reasonably arguable defence and therefore no prospect of succeeding.  

Judge Hacon agreed, In his view, delivered ex tempore, the question was whether the defendant had no real prospect of success in defending the claim; if his prospects were better than fanciful or imaginary, the matter should go to a full trial. In this case, the court could reach an accurate view without expert evidence of the defendant's prospects of defending the claim. Here, the defendant's cake moulds were so similar to the plaintiff's that, however much the prior art might narrow the scope of protection, they would still be infringing.

Not rocket science, but the case is still interesting.  This is because the plaintiff was represented by a member of the company and the defendant represented himself.  No solicitors, no barristers, a reasonable application and a sensible argument against it, plus a result.