The Court of Appeal (The Lord Chief Justice, Arnold LJ and Nugee LJ) has upheld the decision of the High Court in Match Group v Muzmatch Limited that the Muzmatch Muslim dating service infringed the trade marks of Match, the owner of the Match and Tinder dating services.  In doing so, the Court of Appeal upheld the finding of likelihood of confusion and unfair advantage, despite limited evidence of actual confusion after several years of parallel trade.  The Court also rejected the argument of Muzmatch that there was honest concurrent use of the parties’ names such that there was no infringement.  This was the first time the Court of Appeal has addressed the question of honest concurrent use since the decision in IPC Media in 2014, and the Court gave guidance as to the application of the doctrine to similar mark / identical services cases.

The Court of Appeal’s judgment is available here.

Match was represented by Tim Austen, instructed by Browne Jacobson.