David Lloyd Leisure (DLL), which is owned by TDR Capital Titan, has commenced legal action against entrepreneur David Lloyd for trademark infringement and passing off.

The move comes following a month during which David Lloyd – who founded the premium health club and racquets business in 1982 – announced a return to the market with a concept called The Real David Lloyd’s Sports Gardens.

He commenced a trademark application on 13 January for the name with the UK government’s trademarks office for areas ranging from health club and leisure services to gaming and alcohol sales, although no decision on this application has been announced.

Insiders within DLL told HCM that confusion among its members has led to the action being taken to defend the £2 billion DLL brand.

The move has clearly been expected, as the ‘real’ David Lloyd has been posting on social media for some time that he is being sued by DLL, in spite of this not being the case until today (11 February).

Lloyd sold DLL to Whitbread in 1995, for £182 million, when there were 18 sites. Whitbread grew the chain to more than 60 clubs in the UK and Europe and sold the business in 2007 to London and Regional Properties for £925 million.

In 2013 it was sold to TDR Capital for £750 million. TDR created a new fund for the company last September, valuing it at £2 billion. DLL currently has 139 clubs across the UK and Europe.

Due diligence in regards to ownership of the name was carried out in advance of each sale and David Lloyd Leisure has owned the trademark in the UK for ‘David Lloyd’ since 1997. It also created a separate trademark for ‘David Lloyd Clubs’ in the UK in 2015.

The situation in the US – where Lloyd is planning to build one of his Real David Lloyd’s Sports Gardens – is less clear, with neither party having an active trademark, although Whitbread did an application in 1999, with it being suspended in 2002.

Read more about The Real David Lloyd's Sports Gardens here.