YouView infringes regional telco’s trademark, rules court

BT’s YouView box

UK connected TV platform YouView infringes a trademark owned by a Total Ltd, an independent telecoms company based in South West England, according to a High Court ruling. 

The judgement, which was issued yesterday, concludes that YouView’s set top boxes and TV service infringed Total’s ‘YourView’ trademark, and dismissed YouView’s argument that the trademark was invalid.

With the decision, Total, which is a business-to-business telco service provider based in Cheltenham, said it will now seek an injunction against YouView to prevent any further use of the name, together with financial payment and legal costs.

However, YouView said in a statement that it planned to appeal against the High Court’s decision.

“We maintain there is no confusion between our consumer-facing TV service, YouView, and the business-to-business billing platform, Yourview, provided by Total Ltd,” a YouView spokesperson told DTVE.

Lorrin White, managing director of Total said: “Whilst Total may not compare to YouView in terms of size, we both operate in the same industry space.  We protect our rights to brand ownership and wholeheartedly defend those rights – as any business should – otherwise we would never have registered our marks in the first place.

“Our integrated YourView products are core to the long term strategy of Total.  We are a business that respects our partners, competitors and the wider industry, but YouView have persisted in their infringement of our registered mark, leaving us no option but to take action through the courts.”

The High Court ruling is the latest development in a legal spat between Total and YouView that stretches back to 2012. YouView is backed by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva.