On Wednesday 13 November 2024, the UK Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited judgment in SkyKick v. Sky [2024] UKSC 36, one of the largest and most consequential disputes heard under the Trade Marks Act 1994. SkyKick concerns the approach to crafting trade mark specifications, and the circumstances in which a party applying for a specification broader than its intended commercial activities can be found to have applied in bad faith.

The UK Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal on the approach in law to bad faith. Lord Kitchin J.S.C. gave the leading judgment for a unanimous UK Supreme Court, and found that Sky’s trade mark registrations had been sought partly in bad faith, and should be partially invalidated. The Court found there was infringement of the remaining specification by one of SkyKick’s products, but upheld the Court of Appeal’s finding that there was no infringement by the other.

The judgment is substantial and wide-ranging, and likely to influence the course of our trade marks law for many years to come. It is found here.

Stuart Baran acted for SkyKick since the very beginning of this dispute, including multiple trips to the High Court, two to the Court of Appeal, one to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg and this final stage in the UK Supreme Court. Stuart was led in the UK Supreme Court by Adrian Speck KC of 8 New Square, with Simon Malynicz KC of Hogarth Chambers.

Shortly before judgment, SkyKick was acquired by ConnectWise. Tom Mitcheson KC acted for ConnectWise during and following the acquisition.