A court has taken a dim view of YouView, ruling that Lord Sugar's TV service is guilty of trademark infringement -- but YouView "has no intention of changing its name".
The High Court in London upheld an earlier decision that YouView infringed the trademark of a service called YourView. Gloucestershire company Total Ltd registered the name YourView (with an R) in 2009, nine months before YouView (no R) registered its moniker in 2010.
Total's YourView isn't TV-related, it's an online billing service. Claiming there's no conflict, YouView has vowed not to change its name, adding, "This matter is complex and subject to a number of ongoing legal actions and will be settled in the courts."
YouView is a set-top box that turns any telly into an Internet-powered smart TV, pulling the major broadcasters' catch-up services into your regular TV guide. The company is a coalition formed of ISPs and the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five.
ISPs BT and TalkTalk offer the box as part of a broadband contract, but to buy the YouView box on its own costs £300. Still, we like the service a lot -- even awarding it a coveted CNET Editors' Choice rosette.
YouView has poured a bunch of money into forcing the name into our brains -- you've no doubt seen the adverts with famous telly characters projected onto buildings -- so a name change would be a disaster.
Should YouView change its name or is Total just after a payday? Have you tried YouView? Tell me your views in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 6
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Saul Hudson 15 November, 2012 12:36
Given that I and I suggest, most other buyers of YouView have never heard of this company called "YourView" I can't see any basis for this court action other than their hope of getting a big pay off due to the similarity of names. The two companies are not even related in terms of product so how can YourView suffer any financial damages to their business due to the appearance of YouView on the market? This is all complete nonsense and deserves to be thrown out of court at the earliest opportunity.
anonymous 15 November, 2012 13:09
@saul
Agreed, however if this situation was reversed and total or anyone had launched a product (any product!!) called yourview, you can bet every penny you have earned to date and will earn till your dying day that 'Lord' Sugar would be all over this like a rash, gunning for his "pay day".
anonymous 15 November, 2012 14:41
Maybe you should just ask You View why there are no longer Daleks in the adverts ;)
fatbadger 15 November, 2012 17:51
I think people are bright enough to tell the difference. I wouldn't go to the Dutch oil company Argos expecting to be able to buy a bean bag so why would I confuse two completely different companies with names which are actually different?
Saul Hudson 15 November, 2012 18:09
Agreed if it were the other way around YouView's lawyers would be all over it like a bad rash but as fatbadger said "I wouldn't go to the Dutch oil company Argos expecting to be able to buy a bean bag so why would I confuse two completely different companies with names which are actually different?" Perfectly put.
anonymous 26 November, 2012 20:03
only a dickhead would confuse Yourview with Youview.