Exxon v Exxon Insurance [1982] 3 All E.R. 241

• Claimant expended considerable research and effort coming up with name ‘Exxon’ for its corporate group.

• Claimant sued Defendant, who used word Exxon in their company name.

• Issue was whether word Exxon was a ‘literary work’.

Held

• A single invented word alone and by itself IS NOT a ‘literary work’

• For such a word to be literary work, would have to have qualities and characteristics in itself

  • Rather than only having a meaning when accompanied by other words

  • This unlikely to be possible in practice

• Fact that research went into its creation irrelevant