The Court of Appeal decided that a reference to the CJEU was necessary as, although the decision of the Bundesgerichtshof was persuasive (as it is the highest civil court
in Germany), the meaning of «the Member State where the act of infringement has been
committed»
in Art. 97 (5) / 125 (5) of the EU Trade Mark Regulation had not been decided by the CJEU, and it considered that the decision not to allocate
jurisdiction in circumstances where there was activity
in Country A which led to infringement of the EU trade mark
in Country B, would
give rise to there being no
jurisdiction at all for such infringement.
Second, ACSA 2001, s 109
gives the courts
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland extra-territorial
jurisdiction over bribery and corruption offences
committed abroad by UK nationals and bodies incorporated under UK law.