Swedish furnitutre and DIY giant Ikea will tomorrow apply for a High Court injunction to restrain a kitchen installer from using its name.
Inter Ikea System BV, trading as Ikea, has brought the case against John Haugh, Donnycarney Road, Dublin, whom it alleges has infringed its trademark by registering the business name “Ikea Kitchen Fitters” with the Companies Registration Office.
Today, Niamh Hyland, for Ikea, asked Ms Justice Mary Laffoy for an early hearing of the application for an injunction.
Mr Haugh, who represented himself, said he would be defending the matter as the Companies Office had accepted the business name he lodged with them.
He said he did not have a solicitor to defend him and also had to present himself at Mountjoy Jail this afternoon to serve a week’s imprisonment.
Ms Justice Laffoy told Mr Haugh he should understand the seriousness of the matter and would have to swear an affidavit outlining his defence to the proceedings. She added she would hear the injunction application tomorrow, Friday.
Mr Haugh told the judge she would have to “seek an order” to get Mountjoy Prison authorities to bring him to court tomorrow.
The judge told him he would have to tell the prison authorities that he was due in court. “You are being a bit smart, I think,” she told Mr Haugh.