ACID legal affiliate, McDaniels Law, recently acted on behalf of ACID members, Teemo Designs Limited, in respect of copyright and design right infringement against European outdoor furniture company, Alice’s Garden, a company incorporated in France and has now rebranded as “Sweeek”. Teemo discovered that Alice’s Garden was actively and blatantly infringing several of their intellectual property by selling exact replicas of their “Yale” furniture range.

Furniture industry leader Teemo designs, manufactures, supplies, and sells high quality, innovative, design-led furniture to a range of household names under its own brand, as well as having a significant white-label offering.

ACID Legal Affiliate Kelly Hudson, Director of McDaniels’ Law said, Teemo instructed us to send a Civil Procedure Rule compliant letter before action to Alice’s Garden in May 2023, asserting its rights. This included sending correspondence to the UK subsidiary company Alice’s Garden UK and the directors in their personal capacity. Ultimately, matters were not pursued against the UK subsidiary company, nor the directors. Alice’s Garden instructed French representatives who confirmed the matter was being investigated but as a preventative measure, the disputed goods had been removed from sale and a settlement was reached in the matter.“

Nick Green, Teemo’s Managing Director said, “Following some pre-action correspondence, a settlement was reached within two and a half months of the initial correspondence, and resulted in a payment of global sum settlement and signed undertakings from Alice’s Garden. I am delighted that our reputation, in that we will not tolerate any infringement of our IP rights, is growing and we will not hesitate to take legal action against any company who attempts to erode our market share through copying.” 

Dids Macdonald OBE., CEO of ACID said, “Make no mistake Teemo’s proactive IP strategy is proving positive in that the message is out – they will act decisively if their IP rights are infringed sending a strong deterrent warning shot to those that think they can take the fast track to market.”