British Sky Broadcasting Plc and Others v. Sky Home Services Limited and Others [2008] EWCA Civ 1101

Case Summary  |  Judgment  |   3 July 2008

Tom Moody-Stuart appeared for the Respondents in this Court of Appeal hearing in July 2008. BSkyB sued Sky Home Services in 2006 for passing off. The Court held that Sky Home Services had passed off their contracts as if they had been approved by BSkyB but that there was no passing off in relation to oral marketing and the Court found against BSkyB in relation to its claim that the Defendants had acted in common design. An order for costs was made against Sky Home Services following the trial and awarded BSkyB its costs with a 10% reduction due to the fact that it had not won in relation to the common design claim and that the split of costs should be 30-70 between Sky Home Services and the other Defendants. Sky Home Services appealed the costs decision, claiming that the Judge had not considered the fact that the Claimant had lost the oral marketing claim. The appeal was allowed and Sky Home Services was made to pay 13.5% of BSkyB's costs.