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" YouView is being sued over its trademark and could have to change its branding, after the set top box venture chaired by Lord Alan Sugar lost a recent High Court battle. Total Ltd said that it was &amp;quot;confident of success&amp;quot; in the legal action, after YouView TV Ltd was denied in its application for the &amp;#039;youview&amp;#039; trademark over concerns it was too similar to Total&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Your View&amp;#039; mark. But despite its chosen branding now being denied according to a UK court, YouView has said that it has &amp;quot;no intention of changing its name&amp;quot;, and the court battle continues.   Earlier in the month, Justice Floyd dismissed an appeal by YouView Ltd against an earlier finding by the UK Trade Marks Registry. This said that the name of its new platform, &amp;#039;youview&amp;#039;, was &amp;quot;confusingly similar&amp;quot; to an earlier trademark &amp;#039;YOUR VIEW&amp;#039;, held by Total Ltd, a Gloucestershire-based telecoms company. Following the appeal court ruling, Total Ltd has now issued High Court proceedings against YouView TV Ltd for infringement of its registered trademark. YouView is a joint venture of the major UK broadcasters and telcos, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BT, TalkTalk and Arqiva. This summer, the company launched a new YouView-branded set top box offering all the Freeview channels, along with video on-demand services.  Prior to launch, YouView TV Ltd had applied to the Trade Marks Registry for the name &amp;#039;YOUVIEW&amp;#039;, presented in various forms including in lower case as &amp;#039;youview&amp;#039;, for use with various goods and services But Total Ltd had earlier secured a trademark for &amp;#039;YOUR VIEW&amp;#039; in 2009, which it uses as the trading name of an online customer portal.  Total initially opposed YouView&amp;#039;s application in the Trade Marks Registry, and on May 30, 2012, the hearing officer ruled that the &amp;#039;youview&amp;#039; trademark was too similar to Total&amp;#039;s earlier trademark.  YouView TV Ltd appealed the verdict to the High Court and argued that it should be able to use the trademark for TV software, electronic programme guides and the actual set top boxes themselves, claiming that the brand was not too similar.  But on November 9, Justice Floyd issued his judgment dismissing YouView TV Ltd&amp;#039;s appeal in its entirety, and giving his backing to the earlier decision of the Trade Marks Registry.  High Court proceedings were issued today (November 26) by Total, and relate to YouView&amp;#039;s alleged infringement of Total&amp;#039;s trade mark. It claims that the branding &amp;#039;youview&amp;#039; is &amp;quot;identical or similar to the YOUR VIEW trade mark&amp;quot;, and is also being used &amp;quot;in relation to goods and services which are identical or similar to those for which Total have registered their mark&amp;quot;.  Paul Gordon, a partner at Willans LLP Solicitors, representing Total Ltd, said: &amp;quot;The YOUR VIEW trade mark has been registered to Total Ltd. since November 20 2009, a fact that YouView were fully aware of when attempting to register their mark.  &amp;quot;On Friday, November 9, Mr Justice Floyd dismissed YouView&amp;#039;s appeal and took time to point out that not only was the hearing officer in the Trade Marks Registry right in her initial findings when she decided against registration of the &amp;#039;youview&amp;#039; mark with certain goods and services, but that he agreed that there was similarity of the marks and similarity of the goods and services.&amp;quot; Total Ltd managing director, Stuart Baikie, said that the firm was &amp;quot;confident of success&amp;quot; in its legal action against YouView TV Ltd.  &amp;quot;Despite the recent vindication of our position in the appeal proceedings we believe that YouView has continued to act without regard to our registered mark and business interests,&amp;quot; he said.  &amp;quot;We have had no choice but to issue infringement proceedings and we are confident of success.&amp;quot; However, a YouView spokeswoman said earlier in the month that the company would not be changing its branding and does not accept the ruling.  &amp;quot;YouView has no intention of changing its name,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;This matter is complex and subject to a number of ongoing legal actions and will be settled in the courts.&amp;quot;  YouView could now continue its legal fight against the trademark ruling and face possible high costs and even having to change its branding if it loses, or come to some sort of settlement with Total Ltd. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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