F.B.T. Productions, LLC v Let Them Eat Vinyl Distribution Ltd
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Ian Karet |
| Judgment Date | 17 May 2021 |
| Neutral Citation | [2021] EWHC 1316 (IPEC) |
| Date | 17 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | Case No: IP-2017-000178 |
| Court | Intellectual Property Enterprise Court |
[2021] EWHC 1316 (IPEC)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ENTERPRISE COURT
Royal Courts of Justice, Rolls Building
Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL
Ian Karet (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge)
Case No: IP-2017-000178
Jamie Muir Wood (instructed by Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP) for the Claimant
Richard Colbey (instructed by RafterMarsh UK) for the Defendant
Approved Judgment
I direct that pursuant to CPR PD 39A para 6.1 no official shorthand note shall be taken of this Judgment and that copies of this version as handed down may be treated as authentic.
This judgment deals with the interest that may apply to the award of damages set out in my judgment of 20 April 2021. In this judgment I use the defined terms as in that judgment.
Each party made a written submission on interest.
The Claimant's position is as follows. It says that it should be awarded interest pursuant to section 35A Senior Courts Act 1981 or the inherent jurisdiction of the court. The court should adopt a broad-brush approach in assessing that. Since FBT is a US entity the relevant interest rate should be that for borrowing in the US, and the appropriate rate would thus be the US prime rate or 2.5% (or similar) above the three-month US LIBOR. Given that the sums are relatively small, the former should be adopted.
The infringing copies were delivered to Plastic Head on or about 1 June 2015, so that royalty would become payable on sales from that time. Applying the US prime rate to damages of £7,452.50 over that period would give interest of £1,805.55.
The Defendant submits that there should be no award of interest because the Claimant delayed in seeking payment and demanded “absurd sums” in damages preventing any sensible disposal of the matter.
The Defendant says that if there is to be an award then the rate should be 2.5%. This is on the basis that the damages award is in Sterling and there is no reason to apply US rates. This rate is said to be 2% over the UK base rate. That varied from 0.1% to 0.75% over the relevant period and can be averaged to 0.5%. The Defendant notes that there are many commercial cases in which the court orders 1% over the base rate, so that its proposal of 2% over base is itself a concession.
The...
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