More than 150 veterinary professionals have already pledged their support and registered on a website that was set up to unite all the practices that are having to deal with legal threats from IVC Evidensia, because they have “Pet Health Club” branded health plans.
The organisers of the support group and website have been astonished with the response and believe the dozens of practices that have received legal letters and signed up so far could just be the tip of the iceberg.
There are also numerous registrations from practices that have a “Pet Health Club” even though they haven’t yet received correspondence from IVC, as they are seriously concerned that it’s looming.
The letters state that IVC have trademarks on two “Pet Health Club” logos, as well as a word mark on the phrase “Pet Health Club” which it registered in 2019. The letters say, “Pet Health Club is a trading name of Independent Vetcare Limited, part of the IVC Evidensia group of companies, offering dog, cat and rabbit healthcare plans to customers of Independent Vetcare Limited and other companies within its group”. They also claim “Pet Health Club” has been trading since 2015 and has built-up goodwill and reputation, so ultimately practices that are not owned by IVC must not use the words “Pet Health Club”.
Since the story broke, IVC has sent follow-up letters to a number of practices saying it has decided to offer a stay of execution and extend the deadline to comply until the 31st December 2025, which is after the anticipated conclusion of the CMA’s market investigation, before it considers taking further legal action.
However, with the cost to rebrand so many “Pet Health Clubs” estimated to be between £250,000 and £350,000 combined, the organisers of the We Are Spartacus group have now appointed an intellectual property lawyer to provide specialist advice on whether such a common term can be protected with a word mark.
Alex Green of Broadway Vets said: “Initially we set up We Are Spartacus to bring all the affected practices together to support each other, and while we’ve done this, we’ve also brought the wider veterinary community together who want to stand up to IVC Evidensia and the ridiculous word mark.
“Lots of practices have had a ‘Pet Health Club’ for more than 10 years and the majority of those that have come forward were using the term long before IVC registered its word mark in 2019, so it’s clearly an issue that people feel very passionate about, especially when it’s likely to cost each practice a significant amount of money and time to rebrand.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of people who have registered to support us, especially those that aren’t affected but who want to stand shoulder to shoulder with us against such an unnecessary and underhand way of doing business. However, there are still several practices that are affected that we haven’t heard from, and we’d urge them to come and join us now.
“We’re also keen to hear from those that received initial letters and haven’t yet had a follow-up offering a stay of execution until the end of the year. Whilst we’re delighted that IVC has extended their deadline, it does not resolve the fact that their threats are unacceptable when every practice in the country provides animal, or ‘pet’, healthcare, or ‘health’, in a community-based service, or ‘club’.
“They don’t need to fight or worry about this on their own and we’re stronger as a collective, especially when it comes to pooling resources and expertise. We’ve already appointed a specialist IP lawyer to advise us, and the view is that given the extensive prior use of ‘Pet Health Club,’ it would be crazy to allow this to escalate to court when it can be amicably resolved.
“It’s also come to light that IVC has even registered ‘It’s not what we do, it’s why we do it’ which does rather sum it all up. Spartacus just wants to know why IVC is doing what it’s doing.”
