Brennan’s bakers have appealed against an injunction preventing them using certain packaging on one of their brown bread products after the High Court found it was confusingly similar to that used by a rival company, McCambridge.
McCambridge, of Rathcoole, Dublin, had sought and secured High Court orders preventing Joseph Brennan Bakeries using packaging on a wholewheat bread product which was similar to that used by McCambridge on its wholewheat bread product.
Last November, Mr Justice Michael Peart found the Brennan’s packaging, introduced in January 2011, was likely to confuse consumers, and McCambridge was entitled to appropriate injunctions to prevent this. The five-judge Supreme Court yesterday heard the appeal by Brennan’s against that decision and reserved its judgment to next month.
In its appeal, Brennan’s argued Mr Justice Peart erred in his application of the test for “passing off” by failing to distinguish between a risk of confusion and the requirement to prove the existence of misrepresentation.