United Kingdom: Trademark

Rebecca Field and Lee Curtis reflect on fifty episodes of their Fashionably IP podcast, revisiting the most significant intellectual property cases and concepts they've covered in the fashion industry since May 2022. What patterns have emerged across these discussions, and which legal issues have proven most impactful in shaping fashion IP law?

As companies in the energy sector increasingly showcase their environmental credentials through branding, trade mark offices in the EU and UK are taking a stricter stance on 'green' marks. Recent refusals of marks like GREEN STEAM and ECOFLOW reveal growing scrutiny over whether eco-friendly branding is genuinely distinctive or merely descriptive, raising important questions about how businesses can protect sustainable brands while avoiding greenwashing pitfalls.

The £1.4bn sale of The Ivy Collection demonstrates that true value in luxury hospitality lies not in physical assets, but in brand protection and intellectual property. How can ambitious restaurant groups replicate this success by securing their trade marks, visual identity, and defensible market position before scaling?