Miss Recorder Michaels:
1.The parties to this action both provide accommodation for university students. The dispute arises from the re-branding of the Defendant’s business in autumn 2014 to “SU LETS”, a name which the Claimant says infringes its registered UK trade mark, SULETS, and passes off the Defendant’s business as connected with the Claimant. 2.The Claimant was incorporated in July 2012 and carries on business as a lettings agency for university students at the University of Leicester and the De Montfort University in Leicester. It provides accommodation in private halls of residence and has charitable status. It is owned by the Student Unions of both universities. 3.The Claimant is the proprietor of UK registered trade mark No. 3101453 (“the Mark”) registered as of 27 March 2015 for the word mark “SULETS” in respect of various services in Classes 36 and 37 including in particular “accommodation letting agency services.” There is no challenge to the validity of the trade mark, despite the Defendant’s contention that it is broadly descriptive of student letting services. The Mark has been used as a word mark, as well as in the form of the logo below, with or without the strapline ‘Better student living.”
4.The Defendant is a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Essex Students’ Union and provides accommodation for the students of that university in private residences, rather than in halls of residence. It provides accommodation mainly for second or third year students or postgraduates and does not actively target sixth formers applying for accommodation for their first year, who mainly go into halls of residence. Mr Stephens, its Chief Executive, gave evidence that the Defendant nevertheless attends university open days for prospective students and their parents. 5.The Defendant was incorporated in 2010 and started trading under the name “Essex Student Lets.” This was soon abbreviated to “Student Lets” which was used to some extent in a logo form, in which the ‘n’ was replaced with an outline of a house. In October 2014, the decision was made to rebrand to SU LETS, in line with rebranding of other Student Union services. Since then, in addition to using the name SU LETS the Defendant has used a number of logos incorporating that name. The main logo adopted in 2014, again incorporating a house device, is shown below, although the Defendant disclosed a variety of flyers, posters and advertising materials showing use of variations of the logo, as well as use of the name SU LETS and the email address