Salon owner 'in limbo' over L'Oréal dispute delays

A salon owner says she has been left in limbo by delays to her long-running legal battle with cosmetics giant L'Oréal.

Rebecca Dowdeswell has been locked in a dispute with the French firm over the trademark on the name of her business - nkd - in Leicester city centre since 2022.

The 48-year-old said she was told the matter would be examined in a tribunal overseen by the government's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) this month.

However, she said she was devastated to be told the hearing had been postponed until later in the year by the IPO, which blamed "very significant" caseloads in part on Brexit.

The IPO said it was experiencing a large, "though temporary" increase in caseloads, which had delayed hearings.

It added trademark litigation volumes were at "historically high levels", which saw about 1.4 million "marks" added overnight after Brexit.

L'Oréal has its own trademark on a series of beauty products called NAKED and has told Ms Dowdeswell, from Radcliffe-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, her use of the name nkd would cause "consumer confusion".

Ms Dowdeswell said the two brands were "not even a little similar", and said she had spent more than £30,000 contesting L'Oréal's opposition to her trademark application.

"It's really frustrating," Ms Dowdeswell told the BBC.

"I was ready to go for it [in February] and hopefully get the whole business finished but then it was taken away.

"They have given me no idea when my hearing might be.

"It feels like it has disappeared into the long grass. It is hard to see when it will end.

"The whole case - the challenge of having to take on a huge company with massive resources - is a weight on my mind. I'm in limbo.

"It has been tiring. It has impeded my business because I wanted to expand my product range, but who would come on board with this case unresolved?"

Ms Dowdeswell's solicitor Aaron Wood, a specialist in trademark cases, said: "Hugely lengthy proceedings help nobody - and Rebecca is keen to get this case sorted.

"We were ready to proceed in February but now we are being told the volume of work at the IPO means we are unlikely to get [it heard] until much later this year.

"And even after that has happened, we won't get a decision potentially for many months. It's extremely frustrating."

The IPO said before Brexit, trademarks could be registered with either the European Union (EU) or the UK, or both.

After Brexit, 1.4 million trademarks that were with the EU transferred over to take effect in the UK.

An IPO spokesperson added: "We have seen a very significant, though temporary, increase in IPO tribunal caseloads over the last few years due to a doubling of trademarks litigation volumes.

"These are at historically high levels, due in part to the UK's exit from the European Union, which saw around 1.4 million marks added to our register overnight."

The IPO added the case between Ms Dowdeswell and L'Oréal did not directly involve rights created following Brexit, but said the overall increase in litigation and tribunal activity had affected its progression.

The spokesperson added: "We recognise the impact this temporary increase in workload has on all parties involved in tribunal proceedings.

"Our teams are working hard to minimise disruption without compromising the quality of the tribunal's decisions.

"We are confident in our ability to get through this temporary but significant period of exceptional demand effectively."

L'Oréal has been contacted for comment.

Previously, the company added: "We are wholly committed to resolving any misunderstanding there might have been with Rebecca Dowdeswell.

"From the beginning of our exchanges with her lawyers in 2022, we have communicated an offer that supports her business aspirations whilst respecting our longstanding trademark rights.

"We look forward to resolving this matter in a mutually agreeable way."

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