The judgment
12.The District Judge found that the word ‘Guild’ in CMUK’s entry in the Loadup website was likely to lead the relevant public to believe that the services offered by CMUK were connected with NGRS. He said that this was capable of being a misrepresentation. By inference, he found that it became a misrepresentation after CMUK ceased to be a member. 13.The District Judge held that Mr Rust was the controlling mind of CMUK and was therefore jointly liable for CMUK’s acts of passing off. As regards Central Moves’ liability, however, he found that (a) Central Moves had not acquired the contractual or tortious liabilities of CMUK, (b) the CMUK website address in the Loadup entry was not a misrepresentation by Central Moves and (c) there had been no common design between Central Moves and Mr Rust to represent that Central Moves was a member of NGRS. Accordingly Central Moves was not liable for passing off. 14.The District Judge assessed damages to be paid by Mr Rust on the user principle. He referred to and followed my judgment in National Guild of Removers & Storers Ltd v Statham [2014] EWHC 3572 (IPEC) in which I found that a typical member of NGRS paid annual fees of between £1,600 and £1,800 per annum. In that case the defendant business had represented that it was a member of NGRS on a consumer-facing website. The District Judge found that a freely negotiated licence between NGRS and Mr Rust in relation to the use of ‘Guild’ on the Loadup website, not a consumerfacing website, would have fixed the royalty rate at £900 per year. He said that the relevant period started at 30 July 2007 and ended when CMUK ceased trading in December 2008. He assessed damages at £1275. 15.It is not immediately clear to me why the relevant period started on 30 July 2007 since CMUK’s membership of NGRS ended on 15 November 2005. But no doubt there was a good reason because it was not a matter complained of in the Appellant’s Notice or in argument. I need consider it no further.