(133)  Microsoft v Front Page Design (trade marks)

In September 2001 a design company based in Glasgow succeeded in registering as its trade mark its name Front Page Design.  In doing so, the company overcame an opposition from Microsoft, which argued in the Trade Marks Registry that the proposed mark infringed the trade mark of its Front Page website design software. The Registry found that Front Page Design had established its right to use the name in connection with design work, including website design, before the Microsoft software was introduced in the UK.  Proceedings had lasted for five years. On the relevant law, see Trade Marks Act 1994 ss 5, 6, 37-41.