Practices urged not to face legal threat alone

A veterinary business group has pleaded for practices affected by a legal battle with a major care provider not to face the issue “alone”.

IVC Evidensia officials have not ruled out further action in the ongoing Pet Health Club dispute, though they insist they have contacted all the businesses they intended to.

But leaders of a campaign set up in response to its actions have claimed they now know of nearly 100 practices that have either received legal communication or fear they may do so.

The Federation of Independent Veterinary Practices (FIVP) has also urged its members to contact them for advice if they receive similar communication.

‘Concerned’

In a statement published on its website, FIVP chairperson Rita Dingwall said: “We completely understand how stressed and concerned many practices will feel at the threat of legal action.

“It is so important that independent practices stand together and that no practice faces this alone.”

The statement also confirmed that “several” of its members had been affected by the issue, though the group had not responded to a request for clarification on the exact numbers as Vet Times went to press.

Online campaign

Its plea follows the recent launch of the We Are Spartacus online campaign, which seeks to support affected practices and coordinate a collective response to legal claims from IVC’s representatives.

The company has called for non-IVC practices to cease using both the Pet Health Club name and other associated marks, alleging such use breaches its trademarks, including a wordmark of the Pet Health Club term itself which it registered in 2019.

But while it maintains that fewer than 40 practices have been contacted over the issue, campaign officials said they know of 40 businesses and their practices that have received letters, including groups whose individual practices were all contacted. They also claimed 38 businesses, encompassing 92 separate practice locations, have now come forward on the issue, with many of them fearing that they will be contacted, too.

Action

However, IVC sought to play down the possibility of further action in its latest statement on the row.

A company spokesperson said: “We have no current plans to correspond with anyone we haven’t previously contacted on this matter and are not currently aware of any outstanding unauthorised use”.

However, she continued: “Of course, we reserve the right to do what trademark holders do to protect their trademarks and customers in the future, as in any sector.”

The company said it had also extended its response deadline to the end of this year from 31 March and reiterated that it was not seeking to prevent other practices from offering subscription services.

Meanwhile, the FIVP statement said discussions were also taking place between the campaign and IVC’s legal representatives.