The publishers of Buy and Sell obtained a temporary High Court injunction yesterday restraining another company from publishing a publication entitled either Mayo Buy and Sell or Mayo Buy or Sell or any "confusingly similar name"
The interim order also prevents the defendants from passing off their goods and, in particular, classified advertisements, publications and services as being the goods and services of the plaintiffs.
Miss Justice Carroll granted the interim order, which runs until Monday next, to B and S Ltd, trading as Buy and Sell, and Buy and Sell (N Ireland) Ltd, against Rapid Design Ltd, trading as "Alanno Print and Design", and Mr Alan Duffy. The judge was told that the new magazine was to be launched today.
In an affidavit for the plaintiffs, Ms Sheelagh Young, commercial manager, of Buy and Sell House, Argyle Square, Donnybrook, Dublin, said that the plaintiffs had offices in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. They formed part of the Associated Newspaper group of companies which publishes the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Ireland on Sunday and Evening Standard newspapers.
Since 1990, the plaintiffs had published a classified advertisements publication here called Buy and Sell. The name "Buy and Sell" was generally associated with the plaintiffs' publication and no one else's, she said. With a view to protecting its extremely valuable goodwill and reputation in the "Buy and Sell" brand, the first plaintiff had registered two trade marks.
Early last month, the plaintiffs first learned of the defendants' activities. The plaintiffs saw a copy of a leaflet which advertised a free publication called Mayo's Buy and Sell. The possibility of confusion with the plaintiffs' publication was obvious, with the reference to Co Mayo suggesting that it was a local edition of the plaintiffs' publication developed in the same way as the plaintiffs' regional editions.