ghd, the developer and manufacturer of high performance hair straighteners and other hair styling products, has recently achieved a significant victory before the United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, which has upheld ghd’s entitlement to ownership of a patent covering technology used in its hair straighteners. Daletech Electronics Limited, a Yorkshire based company that designs circuit boards and other electronic components, sued ghd alleging that it was entitled to ownership of a patent for an invention which had been developed during a project that ghd had commissioned and for which Daletech had been paid.

Rejected allegations

At the hearing, which took place in the Leeds Combined Courts, Daletech was represented by Ms Jane Lambert, Counsel of 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square, London and ghd was represented by Patrick Cantrill, a partner in the Intellectual Property Department of Bond Dickinson LLP. The IPO’s hearing officer comprehensively rejected Daletech’s allegations and held that ghd is rightly the owner of the patent in that (i) one of its ex-employees had been a co-inventor of the underlying technology and (ii) Daletech, through its past dealings had already assigned to ghd any rights they may have retained in the invention. In addition to having its claims dismissed, Daletech was ordered to pay costs to ghd.

Vindicated

James Armstrong, Group General Counsel for ghd, said “…We are pleased with the outcome of this litigation and how strongly the IPO has rejected Daletech’s allegations. ghd had every right to file for the patents in its own name and has now been vindicated in doing so by the IPO’s decision. ghd regrets that this dispute resulted in a full contested hearing but understandably, it had no other choice but to defend both its reputation and the integrity of its intellectual property…”. The decision is reported on the IPO’s website www.ipo.gov.uk as Case No. BL 0/501/14