## Facts

- Mecklermedia Corporation organized trade shows and published a magazine in the United Kingdom using the name “Internet World,” claiming goodwill in that name in the UK.
- D.C. Congress GmbH, a German company, organized trade shows in Germany under the name “Internet World.”
- D.C. Congress marketed its German events using an English-language brochure circulated into the United Kingdom, including to individuals associated with Mecklermedia’s events.
- A Mecklermedia-related licensee advertised “Internet World Berlin 1997,” after which D.C. Congress obtained interim relief in Germany based on its German trademark rights.
- Mecklermedia sued D.C. Congress in England for passing off, alleging misrepresentation and damage to its UK goodwill (including reputational harm connected to the German proceedings).
- D.C. Congress contested English jurisdiction and sought to set aside service or, alternatively, to stay the English action under the Brussels Convention regime.

## Issues

1. Whether the claim for passing off was a “matter relating to tort” permitting jurisdiction in England as the place where the harmful event occurred under the Brussels Convention’s tort head of jurisdiction.
2. Whether exclusive jurisdiction over trademark registration/validity disputes in the state of registration barred the English court from hearing a passing-off claim connected to a German registered mark and German litigation.
3. Whether, even if jurisdiction existed, the English court should stay or decline the case in favor of Germany.

## Decision

- The court held that England had jurisdiction under the Brussels Convention provision for torts because the alleged damage to Mecklermedia’s goodwill was suffered in the United Kingdom.
- The court held that the Convention’s exclusive jurisdiction rule for proceedings concerning trademark registration or validity did not apply, because the English claim did not seek to determine the registration or validity of the German mark.
- The court refused to stay or decline the action; the defendant’s application to set aside service or stay proceedings was dismissed.

## Legal Principles

- A passing-off claim is a tort for jurisdictional purposes; the “place where the harmful event occurred” can include the place where the claimant suffers damage to goodwill and economic loss.
- Exclusive jurisdiction rules for intellectual property registration/validity are confined to proceedings that directly concern registration or validity, and do not bar territorially limited tort claims protecting goodwill in another state.
- Under the Brussels Convention scheme, once jurisdiction is established under an applicable head (such as tort jurisdiction), the court generally should not refuse jurisdiction on discretionary convenience grounds absent a Convention basis for a stay.

## Conclusion

The court allowed the English passing-off action to proceed because the alleged injury was to UK goodwill, bringing the claim within the Convention’s tort jurisdiction, and because the dispute did not require the English court to rule on the registration or validity of a German trademark.


Mecklermedia Corp. v. D.C. Congress GmbH, [1998] Ch. 40 (Ch. 1997)