Logos and No-gos: Court of Appeal sees through green tinted spectacles

We examine the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in relation to the long running trade mark infringement claim made by Specsavers against Asda.

In 2009, Asda re-launched its in-store optician services with the banners "Be a real spec saver at Asda" and "spec savings at Asda" often used in conjunction with white overlapping ovals with the words ASDA and Opticians.  The High Court held that only Asda's first strapline had infringed taking unfair advantage of Specsavers' registered word mark.