The judgment in the SkyKick case before the Supreme Court has been a long time coming.
The Supreme Court unanimously allows the appeal in part. The High Court was entitled to find that the SKY marks were applied for in bad faith to the extent that it did, and the Court of Appeal was wrong to reverse that finding. The procedure adopted in the High Court had not been unfair.
The Court of Appeal was, however, right to find that, on the basis of the narrowed specifications of goods and services, infringement by Cloud Migration had not been established; but no error had been made in relation to Cloud Backup.
In addition, the EU Trade Mark Regulation (the “EUTM Regulation”) continues to have direct
effect in the context of proceedings pending before a United Kingdom court designated as an EU trade mark court prior to the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 (“IP completion day”).
Lord Kitchin gives the judgment with which the Justices agree. Lord Reed gives a concurring judgment.