YouView facing name change threat

YouView, the UK’s new connected TV service, could be forced to change its name after losing an appeal at the High Court.

The court decided that the name YouView was too similar to another UK-based company, Your View, which is owned by telco Total and supplies billing services.

The dispute started when YouView tried to trademark its name in 2010 but found that Your View had been registered a year earlier. Total’s managing director Stuart Baikie said the company now planned to seek an injunction against YouView’s brand along with damages and costs.

YouView, a joint venture between Arqiva, the BBC, BT, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV and Talk Talk, launched in July this year after months of delays. Although it has yet to reveal the number of customers, TalkTalk, which bundles YouView in with its broadband services, said this week that it was connecting YouView customers at a rate of 1,000 per day.