Carmaker, Jaguar has failed in its bid to block a campervan company from trademarking the word ‘Overlander’.
Jaguar asked a tribunal to block Warrington firm Car & Commercial Solutions Ltd from registering the word ‘Overlander’ as a trademark, due to it sharing similarities with its own ‘Lander’ brand.
The tribunal ruled, however, it is unlikely any potential customers might actually confuse Jaguar’s cars with the Cheshire firm’s campervans, despite the similarities in branding, according to court documents seen by City A.M.
In a ruling, handed down on 16 February, it said putting ‘over’ in front of ‘lander’ creates an entirely different word, as it refused to block the Cheshire company’s trademark request.
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It added that the “stylised” lettering used in the campervan maker’s Overlander trademark bears few visual similarities to the “conventional” font used for Jaguar’s Lander brand, and determined that any customers seeing similarities between the two brands would be a matter of coincidence.
JMW Solicitors’ lawyer Philip Partington, who represented the Cheshire firm in the case, said: “Hopefully this victory will show other business owners that they should not view multinational opponents as an insurmountable challenge”.
The luxury carmaker must now either appeal the tribunal’s decision, or pay Car & Commercial Solutions Ltd’s costs within 21 days.
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