When long standing Anti Copying in Design members Table Art discovered that the Royal Armouries were using centre pieces identical to some of their signature pieces, they immediately contacted McDaniel & Co, ACID affiliate lawyers.

Despite sending a strong Letter Before Action (LBA) with evidence of their IP ownership, at first Royal Armouries denied any infringement forcing Table Art, regrettably, to issue proceedings in the Small Claims Court.

Despite not admitting liability, Royal Armouries have now agreed to destroy, on oath, all the centre pieces complained of and pay £5000 in damages and costs.

Gary Martin, CEO of Table Art said, “Destroying all the copies and paying us £5000 is a clear indication to us that Royal Armouries recognised our IP ownership. I hope they will, in the future, acknowledge that it is unlawful to use others’ designs without permission. We value the IP we create in our original products and fail to see it is right, under any circumstances, not to respect our IP rights.”

Niall Head-Rapson, Partner in IP specialists McDaniel & Co said, “We are increasingly enabling design-led companies to fight for their IP rights by sending a strong Letter Before Action. In this case Royal Armouries at first refused but now the Small Claims Track is available for claims up to £10,000, it is a cost and time effective route to take against much larger organisations. In this case, I am delighted that there has been a settlement.”

Dids Macdonald, CEO of ACID said, “The credibility of such a strong and respected brand as Royal Armouries should not be jeopardised by a disrespectful act of IP infringement. It is incumbent upon all national heritage brands to ensure that they do not infringe IP rights and that they display the highest standards of IP respect, compliance and ethics. I hope this will be a strong lesson for the future.”

About Table Art

Table Art have been designing and developing great contemporary table centrepieces that are works of art. They design and manufacture their products in-house at their eco-friendly workshop enabling also, bespoke designs. Table-art provides products for many well-known national awards as well as for prestigious venues. Sector leaders they take the protection of their IP very seriously.

https://www.table-art.co.uk/