Veterinary practices from across the UK have joined forces to support each other and navigate legal threats from IVC Evidensia that have been sent to practices with “Pet Health Club” branded health plans, and all affected practices are urged to join the group.
In recent months IVC has written to dozens of practices to say they have trade marks 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 state “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.”
The letters claim that “Pet Health Club” has been trading since 2015 and has therefore built-up goodwill and reputation in the United Kingdom.
Any practices that have received such letters should register their details here, which will circulate legal advice explaining both word marks and trade marks, as well as enabling the affected practices to be part of a collective response.
Natalie Morris-Webb from Malthouse Veterinary Group said: “I was stunned to receive a letter from IVC claiming that our Pet Health Club, which we launched in 2017, is an infringement under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and that we’re using a registered word mark without the consent of the proprietor.
“It’s a ubiquitous term that lots of practices use and it quickly became apparent that these letters have been sent out far and wide. There are practices that have been using the term for well over 10 years and to rebrand will be very expensive and time-consuming for what are mostly small businesses.
“We’ve had some conversation with IVC’s representatives to discuss how else we can resolve the situation and whether such a heavy-handed approach is really necessary, because surely IVC don’t want a legal spat with so many independent businesses.
“It’s also very worrying to receive aggressive legal threats from a huge organisation, so it was reassuring to hear from other practices that are facing the same dilemma, and we want to extend our support to others in the same position. We’ve therefore launched We Are Spartacus where any practices that are affected can register their details. We can then work together and decide how to move forward as a collective.
“The group will share information about trade mark and word mark laws as we try to establish whether or not IVC can protect three extremely common words. We’d urge any practices that have received these letters to register their details on the website now.”
An IVC Evidensia spokesperson said: “In order to avoid confusion for customers, and to protect a service providing excellent preventative care to hundreds of thousands of pets, we wrote to some businesses asking them to stop using our registered trademark.
“We firmly believe that there is room in the UK for all types of vets, independent or corporate, and have not asked any business to stop offering the services provided by a subscription model, merely that they do not use our trademark to do so. We are equally firm in our belief that our more than 900,000 members, supported by ten years of investment in our Pet Health Club, should be protected. This is a standard practice in all industries.”
