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Internet TV service YouView being sued over name

The venture has suffered yet another set back and is now being sued or trademark infringement over its name.

UK INTERNET TV service provider YouView is being sued for trademark infringement over its name.

Earlier in November, the High Court upheld a ruling that the name was ‘confusingly similar’ to the name of a product by telecommunications company, Total.

The Gloucestershire-based telecom company registered the name ‘YourView’ for one of its products in 2009, the Inquirer reports.

Speaking after the ruling, Total’s legal team expressed delight at the judgement, saying that the client had “done the right thing in defending a brand that is pivotal to their business and is legally theirs”.

However, YouView – a joint venture involving the BBC, ITV, BT, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Talk Talk- said it had “no intention” of changing its name, TechRadar reports.

YouView, which is also backed by Alan Sugar, registered its name with the UK’s Intellectual Property Office nine months after Total did so with theirs.

Following several long delays, YouView was launched in July of this year. The service is being marketed as a budget TV rival to Sky and Virgin.

Read: 100 job losses at Ericsson Athlone after Ericsson Sweden makes 1,550 job cuts

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Comments (8 Comments)

  • Its good to see a sky rival at last, Skys dominance in the market is fading fast. Good, maybe sky will wake up to their crude ripoff pricing regimes.

    Reply
  • Never heard of either ..,.. What a sad life I lead !!!!

    Reply
  • There is a bewildering array of options in the UK. From an Irish perspective, the best way to go is to obtain UK FTA channels with existing Sky box after 12 month subscription has elapsed (more people doing it all the time) and get Saorview for the Irish channels if u want.

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    • To be honest you can buy a sky satellite, which is really very easy to install, and a uk freesat box for much cheaper than a years sky subscription plus when you are viewing the channels you don’t have to skip past the blank premium channels that are taunting you with their content!!

      Reply
  • All about nothing of importance

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  • Alan Sugar’s been behind this, constantly promoting/mentioning it over on Twitter. Before I invest in a Combi-Box I’m trying to figure out if this You-View would do the same thing, I.e. Is it compatible with both Saorview & Freeview?

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    • You view will only work in the uk as its Internet based and will have the same restrictions as bbc iplayer. there are ways around that but they either cost a monthly subscription or are unreliable. Afaik the only way to get uk tv here at present without a sky or Ntl subscription is via freesat

      Reply
    • Paul 26/11/12 #

      You can use tunnelbear to trick the internet into thinking you’re in the UK or USA and then watch content that’s restricted to their national markets. BBC iPlayer works too, along with stuff on YouTube etc

      Reply

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