Temple Bar heading for row over trademark

State-backed Temple Bar Properties is heading for a dispute with one of its tenants over the trademark rights of a design company that went to to the wall last year.

Temple Bar Properties, a State-established property management company responsible for Dublin's tourist quarter, has confirmed that it has applied to register Design Yard as a trademark.

However, Mr Gerry Crosbie, whose business bought the assets of jewellery and craft outlet, Design Yard Ltd when it went into liquidation last year, told The Irish Times that he intends to formally oppose the application.

Mr Crosbie's business, Whichcraft, is a tenant of Temple Bar Properties. He has been trading with the Design Yard name since last November and has also applied to register it as a trademark.

His lawyers, MacLachlan and Donaldson, last year told Temple Bar Properties' advisers, Tomkins & Co, that he is the owner of "all unregistered rights and goodwill belonging to the company Design Yard Ltd, which rights include its unregistered trademark Design Yard".

Their letter, written after Mr Crosbie discovered that Temple Bar was applying to register Design Yard, warns that he will oppose its application as he believes the company has no claim to the trademark.

Temple Bar proceeded with its application. The most recent issue of the Patents' Office Journal carried a notice stating that it had applied for two Design Yard trademarks.

Mr Crosbie said that he had told his lawyers to begin opposition proceedings to the application. The Patents' Office arbitrates these proceedings.

"I have been using the name since November," Mr Crosbie said. "Temple Bar Properties were Design Yard's landlord but they have no reason to register the trademark."

A Temple Bar Properties spokeswoman said that it decided to register Design Yard last autumn to protect the name against misuse.

She claimed that, as the original Design Yard Ltd was set up with State aid and given the licence to a property under a special "cultural use" by Temple Bar Properties, it had effectively created it in the first place.

She admitted that the company knew Mr Crosbie had been trading with the name since November. "He owns the goodwill but we decided that we should own the name in order protect it," she said.

The spokeswoman added that Mr Crosbie had not contacted Temple Bar Properties about the issue and said that the company would be willing to sell him the trademark.

However, Mr Crosbie pointed out that his solicitors had written to Temple Bar Properties about the trademark application.

"They should be aware of my concerns," he said. He added that he was providing an outlet for around 400 Design Yard jewellers and craftspeople.

In a statement, Temple Bar Properties said the application was proceeding. "We have not received any approach from a third party to purchase/re-assign this trademark application and, as such, are not aware of any dispute over ownership," it said.