The Court of Appeal has delivered a rare judgment concerning trade mark exhaustion in the dispute between AGA Rangemaster Group Ltd (AGA) (manufacturer of the iconic AGA cooker) and UK Innovations Group Ltd (UKIG), which offers electrical conversion and refurbishment services for old AGA cookers using its “eControl System”.

AGA alleged trade mark infringement. The Court of Appeal rejected UKIG’s defence that AGA’s trade mark rights were exhausted, affirming the trial judge’s reasoning that the way in which UKIG had marketed and sold the converted cookers (e.g., using terms like “eControl AGA” on its website and invoices) was likely to mislead customers into thinking UKIG’s converted products were connected with AGA’s official range. This finding confirmed that AGA had legitimate reasons to oppose those activities.

The Court dismissed AGA’s cross-appeal regarding copyright infringement, upholding the lower court’s finding that the control panel, viewed as a whole, was not an “artistic work,” allowing UKIG to successfully rely on the statutory defence under section 51 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Daniel Selmi acted as counsel for AGA, at first instance and on appeal.