William Grant & Sons Irish Brands Limited Against (first) Lidl Stiftung & Co Kg And Others
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Lord President,Lord Woolman,Lord Pentland |
| Neutral Citation | [2021] CSIH 38 |
| Date | 20 July 2021 |
| Docket Number | A74/21 |
| Court | Court of Session |
| Published date | 20 July 2021 |
FIRST DIVISION, INNER HOUSE, COURT OF SESSION
[2021] CSIH 38
A74/21
Lord President
Lord Woolman
Lord Pentland
OPINION OF THE COURT
delivered by LORD CARLOWAY, the LORD PRESIDENT
in the cause
WILLIAM GRANT & SONS IRISH BRANDS LIMITED
Pursuers and Respondents
against
(FIRST) LIDL STIFTUNG & CO KG; (SECOND) LIDL UK GMBH and
(THIRD) LIDL GREAT BRITAIN LIMITED
Defenders and Reclaimers
Pursuers and Respondents: Dean of Faculty (Dunlop QC), Tariq; Burness Paul LLP
Defenders and Reclaimers: Lord Keen of Elie QC; Harper Macleod LLP
20 July 2021
Introduction
[1] Th is reclaiming motion (appeal) raises a question of trade mark law. Was the
intellectual property judge entitled to interdict the defenders ad interim from selling their
Hampstead gin? The answer turns on whether there was a prima facie case that they had
taken unfair advantage of the pursuers’ trade mark for Hendrick’s gin under sub-
section 10(3) of the Trade Marks Act 1994. A second question arises, by way of a cross
2
appeal, of whether the IP judge erred in restricting the scope of the interim interdict to
Scotlan d.
Background
[2] The defenders operate a global discount supermarket enterprise. Collectively they
will be referred to as Lidl. Th ey have sold gin under the name Hampstead London Dry Gin for
some time. Origin ally, this was in the following get-up:
The bottle contained 500mls and the alcohol strength was 40%. It retailed at about £10.00.
Lidl have a trade mark relative to th e gin dated 12 March 2013.
[3] From 2000 the pursuers began producing and marketing Hendrick’s gin, with
considerable success. The gin is distilled in Girvan and is regarded as Scottish in origin. The
pursuers, who will be referred to as Grants, suggest that it be served with cucumber rather
than the more traditional lemon or lime. The get-up of the bottle has been a factor in this
success. It con sists of a dark brown/black, opaque, Victorian apothecary-style bottle as
follows:
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