B&Q, the biggest DIY store in Europe with 322 stores across Britain, has threatened independent online bathroom retailer plumbworld with legal action for trademark infringement, passing off and breach of copyright following an email advert that Plumbworld sent to their customers on the 28th March this year.
The advert for shower enclosures compared the B&Q sale prices to Plumbworld?s prices for identical products and highlighted that consumers would save between 27% and 49% by buying online at Plumbworld.
In one example a ?P shaped? shower enclosure in the B&Q sale was ?745.70 the identical product on the Plumbworld website was ?379.97 a staggering price difference of ?365.73
?We couldn?t believe it when a letter arrived from Willoughby & Partners, the solicitors acting for B&Q. Obviously we knew B&Q wouldn?t be happy that we were advertising how much cheaper we were, but we didn?t expect them to resort to heavy handed legal threats to stop us.
After all it was only an email to our existing customers, it?s not as if we took out a full-page advert in the national press, although perhaps we should have!
We don?t believe that we are guilty of trademark infringement or passing off as this sort of comparative advertising is specifically allowed by Section 11(2)(b) of the 1994 Trade Marks Act and the European Comparative Advertising Directive.
We have offered to give B&Q an undertaking that we won?t reproduce their logo in any future comparative adverts but we also made it quite clear that we will not be intimidated and will continue to highlight the savings that consumers can make shopping online with us, rather than going to their local B&Q superstore. It remains to be seen if our proposed compromise will be sufficient to prevent them taking us to court.
If B&Q are unhappy with us under-cutting them then the obvious thing to do would be to cut their own prices. That way the consumer ends up the winner.?
Said James Hickman, Managing Director of Plumbword
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