Bentley Motors loses trademark appeal against Bentley Clothing
- Luxury carmaker, Bentley Motors, has lost its trademark appeal against a small family owned company, Bentley Clothing
- Bentley Motors can no longer use the ‘Bentley’ name on its own or in conjunction with its B-in-wings logo on its clothing range in the UK
In true David versus Goliath fashion, Bentley Clothing, a small family-run clothing business based out of Manchester, has prevailed over Volkswagen-owned luxury carmakers Bentley Motors for the second time in a long-running trademark dispute.
In November of last year, the High Court in London deemed that Bentley Motors infringed the trademarks owned by Brandlogic, which owns Bentley Clothing. The 2019 ruling held that Bentley Motors could no longer use its name, by itself or combined with its famous wings logo, on its clothing range in the UK and would have to limit its future range to jackets, silk ties, caps, and scarves and not sell any other clothing or headgear. Further, Bentley Motors will have to either destroy or hand over all remaining clothing that is in stock or yet to be sold and pay damages to Bentley Clothing.
Bentley Motors appealed this decision. However, by unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal’s Justice Marcus Smith, Lord Justice Lewison, and Lord Justice Arnold upheld the High Court’s ruling, reaffirming that Bentley Motors had indeed infringed the registered trademark of Bentley Clothing by using an identical trademark on its clothing line.
