Case No. IP-2019-000124

13.Mr Erol explained why he did not believe that the prior art relied upon by the Defendant invalidated his designs. He gave a number of reasons for this which I will consider below. 14.Mr Erol also explained the difficulties encountered by souvenir traders in London, including high rents as well as the problems more recently caused by Covid-19. It was impossible not to feel sympathy for traders in his position. However Mr Davis expressly and rightly cautioned me against deciding the case on sympathy alone. I will focus on Mr Erol’s evidence as regards the prior art. 15.The Defendant called oral evidence from its sole director, Mr Khalil Zarguly, in support of its case that the prior art was indeed made available to the public. In fact Mr Zarguly went well beyond this, and claimed that the “London+Flag+ England” legend had been in widespread use on clothing for many years before 2011. In particular he said that such clothing had been sold since at least 1994. Mr Zarguly explained that he had obtained the Urban Attitude 1999 brochure from Mr Hirji, and that the copies of this brochure in evidence had been made by the Defendant’s solicitors from that original at a meeting held in their offices on 14 September 2021. He also said that KK Hosiery had been trading in clothing bearing the “London+Flag+ England” legend since 2006. All of this evidence was disputed by Mr Erol. 16.The Defendant also called evidence from Mr Muhammad Alam, currently the Director of London Marketing Consultants Limited. Mr Alam said that he had seen the “London+Flag+ England” legend being used on clothing such as hoodies, T-shirts, tank tops, ski hats and baseball caps since 2001 in a variety of different colours. This included use in the early 2000s by Urban Attitude and by Mr Alam’s then employer, a company which traded as GWCC. All of this evidence was also disputed by Mr Erol.