The woman who ran The Willow Tea Rooms on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street for more than 30 years has won a legal battle to keep its name – opposing the Willow Tea Rooms Trust’s attempts to secure the trademark – as the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) told BBC Scotland that her challenge had been successful.
The BBC writes:
The Sauchiehall Street building and interiors were designed by Mackintosh and built in 1903 for Kate Cranston, who ran a number of tea rooms. Ms Anne Mulhern, 60, transformed the Tea Rooms back to their original use in 1983 after the building had been used as a retail unit. However, she did not own the building and it was acquired by the Willow Tea Rooms Trust in 2014. The trust recently closed the building for a £10m two-year refurbishment.
Meanwhile, Ms Mulhern, who also operates the Willow Tea Rooms on Buchanan Street, has moved her Sauchiehall Street operation to the third floor of the Watt Bros department store.The UK IPO said Ms Mulhearn’s opposition to the Willow Tea Rooms Trust’s trademark application had been successful because she had a similar existing trademark. The Willow Tea Rooms Trust has 28 days to appeal against the ruling. If it does not the trademark will be formally refused. This decision may have implications for other heritage buildings with famous trading names as the IPO decision states that: ‘There is no automatic right to a mark as a result of heritage-related connections.
