Musical Fidelity had registered its name as a trade mark in respect of its hi-fi products. The mark has also been used in about 14 domain names owned by the company, including MusicalFidelity.com, the address to which the .co.uk name now re-directs traffic.
David Vickers, owner of Vickers Hi-Fi registered the domain name MusicalFidelity.co.uk without the manufacturer's knowledge or permission – although, at the time of registration, he was an authorised distributor of Musical Fidelity's products. He lost his authorised distributor status in June 2001, but continued to use the web address.
Musical Fidelity claimed that the registration of the domain name constituted infringement of its trade mark. The company also accused Vickers of passing off, arguing that the continued use of the name could mislead users to believe that he was still an authorised distributor of Musical Fidelity's products.
In a summary judgement (which means that no trial took place), the lower court accepted Musical Fidelity's arguments and found that Vickers' activities were damaging its reputation and goodwill.
The court added that Vickers had also infringed copyright laws, because he published on his company's web site letters sent by Musical Fidelity's solicitors, accompanied by his comments on their contents.
Vickers appealed the decision, claiming that a summary judgment should not have been awarded because the issues arising from the case should be resolved in a trial. His appeal was rejected yesterday by the court, which found "no triable issue" in respect of Vickers' "deliberate and misleading use" of the mark in the domain name.