UK based long-delayed on demand television service, Youview, has lost a high court appeal for trademark infringement, which would now force the the firm to change its name or pay damages for the violation.
UK high court justice David Floyd ruled that YouView has a ‘confusingly similar’ name to Gloucestershire based Total’s ‘YourView’ brand registered in June 2009.
In spite of the latest ruling, the TV service, a joint venture involving BBC, Channel 4, BT, TalkTalk, ITV, Channel 5 and Arqiva, is intending to carry on its trademark.
YouView said in a statement that it has no intention of changing its name.
"This matter is complex and subject to a number of ongoing legal actions and will be settled in the courts," the firm said.
YouView was launched in July 2012, while it was earlier planned to be launched in 2010.
Total managing director Stuart Balkie told BBC that the firm was considering taking further action and may be looking to seek an injunction.
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"We’re currently considering our options," Balkie said.
"We see that the success of the YouView business must to a large degree rely on brand recognition, also accounting for the fact that there are other businesses out there in the marketplace providing similar services.
"If the Court provides us with the relief we will be seeking then one way that this may impact on YouView may well be that they may have no other option than to re-brand."
YouView allows its business clients to observe their staff’s utilisation of telephone calls and internet that would enable developing the best tariffs and bolt-ons to sign up to under efforts to reduce their bills.
