Picture a quintessential English farmhouse, thatched roof, welly boots by the door and a massive hearth filled with an AGA. These cast iron behemoths have been a prime candidate for electrification, modernising the classic British kitchen icons into a more environmentally and economically viable alternative. It’s these after-market AGA conversions that are the subject of the heated courtroom drama between AGA Rangemaster and UK Innovations. The question is whether UK Innovations' marketing and modifications were a recipe for infringement or just a clever twist on a classic dish.
The court had to decide if UK Innovations' marketing and electrification of AGA cookers infringed AGA’s trade marks and copyright. The case has implications for the ability for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to control the re-sale of their products where the condition of the products has been changed.
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(Image created using AI)
As more and more brands and consumers make the switch to electric, the ability of third parties to convert existing products is gaining in importance. In many industries conversions are an important part of the market. This decision sets the benchmark really very high for the scale of alterations of such products that can legitimately bear the trade mark of the original brand. This seems to be in spite of the fact that such alterations change the key functioning of a product and may be carried out using lower quality parts. The limit to the use of the original brand’s trade marks seems to be in how they are marketed which a prominent disclaimer and thoughtful wording may be sufficient to avoid.
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