In the Irish High Court this morning, News UK and Ireland were successful in resisting The Irish Times’ application for an injunction to prevent the launch of an Irish edition of The Times.

The High Court in Dublin refused a variety of applications for injunctions by The Irish Times, which now paves the way for the launch of the new daily, digital, edition of The Times for the Irish market. The Irish Edition of The Times will be a national newspaper with a global outlook and will include exclusive sports highlight packages produced by a team of up to 30 Irish journalists based in Dublin.

Richard Oakley, Editor of the Irish edition of The Times, said:

We have rigorously defended our position and will now proceed to launch a 7-day digital newspaper of The Times and The Sunday Times for the Irish market.

In opposing the application, News UK and Ireland denied the use of the words “The Times Irish Edition” ran the risk of creating confusion with The Irish Times or that the plaintiff had any case for infringement of its trademarks. News UK and Ireland also argued that as a result of the delay by the Irish Times in bringing its application it was disentitled to the injunctions.

The judge noted that News UK and Ireland had made elaborate, complex and costly preparations for the launch of Irish Edition of The Times to which they had made a very substantial commitment.

Oakley added:

There is a clear gap in the Irish market for an exciting and innovative digital newspaper and we look forward to launching in the coming weeks. More importantly we are very proud to be the first title to invest at this level in the Monday-Saturday Irish market in recent years.