THE APPARENTLY settled saga surrounding the names of two separate Glasgow distilleries appears to be rumbling on, with a UK Intellectual Property Office decision highlighting that the issue has not fully been put to bed.
Although Morrison Glasgow Distillers, which is soon to open a £10 million distillery on the banks of the River Clyde, changed the name of the operation from The Glasgow Distillery to The Clydeside Distillery last year, its application to register a trademark containing the former name remained lodged at the UKIPO until being rejected this month.
Having been filed by Morrison in January 2015, the application was opposed by Hillington-based Glasgow Distillery Company in April that year, with the UKIPO backing their opposition in a ruling handed down on August 15.
Despite finding that neither company’s trademark was distinctive, UKIPO hearing officer Teresa Perks said it is likely that the public would confuse the two companies if their trademarks contained the same words, which is one of the key considerations in any trademark application.
“Weighing the various factors I come to the conclusion that, even where the level of attention paid is above average and the visual differences between the marks are noticed, effectively it is the phrase ‘The Glasgow Distillery’ that will be seen as an indication of origin in both marks,” Ms Perks said.
“For this reason, it seems to me an inescapable conclusion that consumers will assume that the goods and services are the responsibility of the same undertaking or of undertakings with economic connections. There is a likelihood of both direct and indirect confusion.”
The decision comes after Morrison, which had been called The Glasgow Distilling Company from 2013 to 2015, changed its name after the Glasgow Distillery Company was set up in 2014.
Morrison also registered a trademark containing the works The Clydeside Distillery in September last year and has been marketing the operation under that banner since.
According to a spokesman for The Clydeside Distillery the business has “no plans to use the name The Glasgow Distillery”.
“Our focus, as it should be, is on completing construction and successfully launching The Clydeside Distillery later this year,” he said.
However, an application from Morrison to register a different mark containing the words The Glasgow Distillery, which has also been opposed by the Glasgow Distillery Company, remains live at the EU Intellectual Property Office.
The company did not comment on why it did not withdraw either the UK or EU applications after registering the mark for The Clydeside Distillery.
The two companies originally locked horns over the name after Morrison, which had registered a UK trademark containing the words The Glasgow Distillery in March 2014, opposed an EUIPO application made by the Glasgow Distillery Company later that same month.
While the EUIPO partially upheld that opposition, the Glasgow Distillery Company was ultimately able to register its mark in the EU in May this year.
The Glasgow Distillery Company, which declined to comment, has a trademark application pending at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The opposition period for that application will open next month.
The company, which produces spirits including Makar gin and G52 vodka, was set up by drinks industry veteran Liam Hughes and Ian McDougall of accountancy practice McDougall Johnstone with the backing of a number of unnamed Far Eastern investors.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here