Photo: Wikimedia Commons

The two logos, taken from the court judgement. L: Whyte, R: Rich Energy.



PRESS RELEASE: Whyte Bikes



‘We only use the finest ingredients’ boasts the Rich Energy website. Unfortunately, until now, those ingredients have included an un-authorised copy of the Whyte Bikes’ Stag’s Head Logo, used without permission and against the wishes of the Hastings based cycle brand.



The Judgment from March’s court case between ATB Sales Ltd (the owner of Whyte Bikes) and William Storey (the CEO of Rich Energy), StaxoWeb Ltd (the originator of the infringing Rich Energy logo), and Rich Energy Ltd has today been handed down by Judge Melissa Clarke.



Her Honour found that both Kelly and Storey, representing Defendants Staxoweb and Rich Energy had lied and deliberately misled the court, and that they directly and knowingly copied Whyte Bikes’ logo.



Judge Clarke said “I am satisfied that some of Mr Storey’s evidence was incorrect or misleading and that he was involved in the manufacture of documents during the course of litigation to provide additional support for the Defendants’ case.” “I do not accept either Mr Storey or Mr Kelly as credible or reliable witnesses and I treat all of their evidence with a high degree of caution.” Also, “I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that both Mr Kelly and Mr Storey have lied about not being familiar with C’s Device (Whyte’s logo). I find it more likely than not that they were familiar with it, and that they directly and knowingly copied C’s Device in designing D1’s Device (Rich Energy’s logo).”



The result is that Rich Energy’s logo has been held to infringe the copyright in the Whyte logo, entitling ATB to an injunction and damages or an account of Rich Energy’s profits.



Whilst the Rich Energy drink has proved almost impossible to find or purchase the visibility of the Rich Energy brand has recently increased, coming to the attention of F1 viewers as a result of their sponsorship of the Rich Energy Haas F1 Team, whose cars both feature multiple applications of the copied Whyte Bikes logo.



As can be seen, the similarity between the logos is staggering...





Update

Whyte Bikes are today celebrating a legal victory over the title sponsor of the Haas F1 team, Rich Energy, over copyright infringement of their stag logo.Rich Energy, a UK based energy drinks company, rose to prominence when they unsuccessfully attempted to buy the failing Force India F1 team late last year and were then announced as the title sponsor of Haas. They have already faced scrutiny within the F1 community given sparse physical evidence of any product existing on shelves in the UK despite apparently being backed by " four sterling billionaires ". Both companies use a minimalist stag logo which can be seen below:When Whyte's parent company, ATB Sales, noticed a striking similarity between the two logos they launched a copyright claim, which went to to trial in the UK High Court in March. The judgement was released today and it has found in favour of ATB.Judge Melissa Clarke found that both Mr Kelly and Mr Storey, representing defendants Staxoweb and Rich Energy, had deliberately misled the court by claiming they were not aware of Whyte's logo. She continued by saying they deliberately copied the Hastings-based brand's stag design.Judge Clarke said “I am satisfied that some of Mr Storey’s evidence was incorrect or misleading and that he was involved in the manufacture of documents during the course of litigation to provide additional support for the Defendants’ case."I do not accept either Mr Storey or Mr Kelly as credible or reliable witnesses and I treat all of their evidence with a high degree of caution."I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that both Mr Kelly and Mr Storey have lied about not being familiar with [Whyte’s logo]. I find it more likely than not that they were familiar with it, and that they directly and knowingly copied [it].”The result is that Rich Energy’s logo has been found to infringe the copyright in the Whyte logo, entitling ATB to an injunction, which could include the removal of the logo on the F1 team car, and damages, or an account of Rich Energy’s profits. Rich Energy are entitled to appeal, with matters being adjourned until a hearing on June 27.Read the full court findings here Rich Energy have released the following statement "Today the judgment was released in the claim brought by Whyte Bikes against us in respect of our stag logo. We are disappointed with the judgment & the findings of the judge which run counter to our submissions. We are considering all of our legal options including appeal."