Case No. IP-2016-000182

5.MML arranges the provision of insurance services to existing and past members of the armed forces and their families. For brevity I will use the term ‘armed forces’ to cover all such individuals. To some degree MML also provides discretionary risk cover to the armed forces. MML was set up by Major General Sir Sebastian Roberts (ret’d) and started business in April 2015. Sir Sebastian had taken the view that insurance companies failed to cater adequately for the insurance needs of the armed forces. MML’s purpose is to fulfil such needs.6.MML has neither share capital nor, therefore, shareholders. Membership of the company is conferred upon application and approval of the board, although in practice the purchase of a financial product through MML can qualify the customer to become a member and thereby acquire a share in the control of the company.7.MML has no employees, just seven directors including Sir Sebastian. Almost every aspect of MML’s business is conducted by Regis Mutual Management Limited (“Regis”), part of an international group which for a fee operates mutual insurance companies.8.The first defendant (“PMAS”) is the successor company to an association set up in 1866 to provide financial and welfare support to police officers, police staff and their respective families, which I will hereafter collectively call ‘the police force’. Since the enactment of the Friendly Societies Act 1921 and its successors up to the current Friendly Societies Act 1992 (“the 1992 Act”), PMAS has operated as a friendly society within the meaning of those statutes. Those among the police force who purchase PMAS’s products become members of PMAS and thereby share in its ownership and control. MML accepted that PMAS’s activities in relation to the police force qualified it as a mutual within MML’s definition.9.It emerged during the trial that PMAS’s direct dealings are still with the police force only. I understand there to be no objection to PMAS’s use of a trading name which includes ‘mutual’ for its direct trading activities.10.Under the 1992 Act a friendly society is permitted to incorporate or acquire subsidiaries to conduct aspects of its business. The second to fourth defendants are subsidiaries of PMAS. The fifth defendant is a former subsidiary of PMAS which was sold in December 2016. In April 2016 the website www.forcesmutual.org was set up, offering insurance services under the trading name ‘Forces Mutual’. The website appears to be operated by the second and fourth defendants, although it also states that ‘Forces Mutual’ is the registered trade mark of PMAS and that it is the trading name of the PMAS, the second to fourth defendants and PM Advisory Limited. Business under that name is conducted by the second to fourth defendants and by PM Advisory Limited. I will hereafter refer to the second to fourth defendants collectively as ‘Forces Mutual’.11.The financial services offered by Forces Mutual are aimed at the armed forces. They include insurance for military kit, life insurance, dental and health insurance, plus other financial products such as mortgages and savings products.12.These proceedings concern the use of the word ‘mutual’ in Forces Mutual’s trading name. MML alleges that because of the way they trade, Forces Mutual are not mutual entities. This is because they do not allow those customers who are members of the armed forces to become members and part owners either of Forces Mutual or of the company which controls them, PMAS.13.MML’s case is that its status as a mutual gives it a cause of action for passing off against Forces Mutual. To underline the point, MML has said that it would have no objection were Forces Mutual either to trade under name excluding the term ‘mutual’ or alternatively to amend their trading practices to become a mutual in the sense recognised by MML.