Who? Francis McEntegart, owner of MC Legal, Liverpool.
Why is he in the news? Represents Ben McDonald, from Bootle, who set up pet products company Boss Pets earlier this year. McDonald received a letter from fashion house Hugo Boss requesting him to stop using the word ‘Boss’. The word ‘boss’ is slang for ‘great’ in Merseyside.
Thoughts on the case: ‘My client had approached me some time back asking to register the trade mark for his business, Boss Pets. I advised that he spoke with his designer to ensure the logo had no similarities to the marks of Hugo Boss, which he did. We then made the application, having checked that Hugo Boss did not have registrations for pet products. The application was accepted by the trade marks office. Unusually, prior to examination completion (objections normally come after publication in the Trademarks Journal) my client received a cease and desist letter claiming infringement of Hugo Boss marks for “Boss”. My client was devastated. I assured him that my opinion was that there was no infringement. We responded to Hugo Boss setting out the reasons why there was no infringement (effectively, no sufficient similarity of marks and no similarity of products – Boss Pets sells animal wellbeing products such as eye ointments for cats and dogs). We notified Hugo Boss that if it were to pursue then we would be forced to bring a claim of invalidation of the Boss mark as it could be deemed descriptive of quality. Thankfully, Hugo Boss has now considered our client’s mark and goods to be sufficiently different to theirs.’
In a company statement, Hugo Boss said: ‘Hugo Boss only approaches third parties where an overlap with our existing trade mark rights occurs. As a matter of principle we always seek for a dialogue in favour of an amicable solution for both sides. This is also the case here.’
Dealing with the media: ‘I had mentioned the situation to a friend who works for the BBC and he thought it would be of news interest. Before any interviews, it was imperative to discuss with the client to ensure he would be comfortable with media interest. He was reluctant to be interviewed and preferred that I deal with the journalists.’
Why become a lawyer? ‘My godmother bought me a little book on general law when I was seven. Maybe something stuck from that. Before I studied law, I had been a sound engineer and musician and took a real interest in performer rights and intellectual property.’
Career high: ‘Being instructed by the world-famous Cavern Club. The people involved are an amazing group.’
Career low: ‘A record label I was involved with nearly struck a deal to release a previously unreleased audio recording of Sir Paul McCartney. We had been in talks with his management but as he was planning to record new albums, they thought it wouldn’t be practical. Never mind.’
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