Tiny Hockley firm takes on court case against Gucci - and wins
Dec 31 2009 by Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail
A TINY Birmingham company has won an astonishing David and Goliath High Court showdown against luxury global fashion giants Gucci – over the sale of flip-flops, jock straps and other goods.
The city minnow’s use of the brand name DUCCIO pitted Birmingham businessman Ishtiaq Hussain up against the full might of the Italian shopping empire’s best legal brains.
But Mr Hussain, whose firm employs just five people, defied the odds to emerge triumphant following a marathon nine-year fight to market fashion items from Birmingham under the DUCCIO banner.
The Italian giants, one of the biggest names in worldwide retail, had claimed the name DUCCIO could confuse millions of well-heeled customers worldwide.
Gucci even objected that Mr Hussain was seeking to market jock-straps and flip-flops under the DUCCIO brand, saying such goods would “downgrade the cachet and aspirational nature” of the luxury fashion house.
But the Italian conglomerate was forced to admit defeat after an adjudication ruled there was “no likelihood of confusion.” Gucci was ordered to pay Mr Hussain, who had forked out £50,000 in legal fees and costs, £1,350.
Mr Hussain, who with partner Mohan Handa runs Hockley-based Crowngate Leathers which manufactures fashion items under the DUCCIO trade name, is now free to patent the brand.
Mr Handa said: “We are extremely happy. Nothing can stop us now. Gucci didn’t want us to use the name DUCCIO – you name it, they tried everything to knock us out.
“Even our solicitors walked out on us, saying they were too big to fight. But my partner said: ‘I am not going to walk away – if we lose, we lose.’
“We have not been able to trade properly, we have done very little trading in recent times. Now we have got a worldwide patent on the DUCCIO name, we can extend the brand worldwide.
“We spent over £50,000 in legal fees and other costs. If we had lost, the company would have gone down the drain. This shows that the little guy can win.”
The extraordinary battle of wills over DUCCIO dates as far back as January 2001, when the trademark was first registered by Mr Hussain in Birmingham.
But he found himself at the mercy of Gucci’s army of lawyers when the Italians filed notice of opposition in January 2007.
The legal battles ended with a High Court showdown at the end of October, with Mr Hussain representing himself.
In his judgment, Mark Bryant, for the Registrar, said: “I find that the mark DUCCIO will not be linked to GUCCI by the relevant consumer. The differences are such that it does not bring the GUCCI mark to mind.”
