Grace Hay, owner of Grace Lily, put on a community event called Highland Fashion Week only for New York based lawyers to try to ban it for a trademark breach. Over 3 years ago Grace wanted to put on the event called Highland Fashion Week but was stunned when high-powered lawyers 3200 miles away in New York tried to ban her from using the name. The lawyers were acting on behalf of their client, multinational broadcaster Fashion One Television, who had a trademark on the phrase “fashion week”.
Grace commented: “I couldn’t believe it when we were told this company was trying to stop us getting the trademark. I am a small shop owner and I just want to put on a local event to showcase Highland and Scottish fashion. I couldn’t see how a small community fashion week could have any impact on a television network in New York.”
But rather than dropping the idea and the trademark which her mother had bought her before her untimely death, Grace refused to give up. And Fashion One still found the time to derail Grace’s plans by objecting to her trademark registration despite owning and operating fashion and lifestyle networks Fashion One, Fashion First, Fashion Uno and Fashion 4K and serving an audience of more than 400 million households spread over five continents, claiming that the trademark was too similar and would confuse customers.
Refusing to be cowed into giving up the case fought the case, and expert adjudicators have now ruled in her favour as reported by the Daily Record Scotland. Grace commented: “This has been going on for three years and I have been unable to launch the event without the trademark. I am very excited that the ruling has gone in our favour because I didn’t think we would win the case. It’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I had to file all the evidence myself, which was very daunting.”
In a triumph of commonsense and Grace’s determination, Trademark hearing officer Louise White ruled that the inclusion of the word “Highland” in Grace’s trademark made it clear it had nothing to do with Fashion One. She said it showed that Grace’s mark was “geographically limited to the Highland area” and added: “Bearing in mind the nature of the consumer here, namely that they are domiciled in the UK, it is considered probable that ‘Highland’ will be understood as referring to the Scottish Highlands”.
After a daunting process, Grace intends to launch the event soon, “The ruling will allow me to press ahead with my plans. I think it will be a great thing for the area. We want to get a lot of local people involved and show what the Highlands has to offer.”
