The firm won 24,000 in damages and court costs of more than 16,000.

"I think that because we are a small company and it is a large business, it thought we would give in, but we didn't," said Custom managing director Nick Cvetkovic.

Custom's claim centred on its Form Factory branded products, which are a range of business forms designed to be compatible with Sage and Pegasus accounting softwares.

"We discovered last year that someone had copied our designs and used our re-order codes... so customers mistakenly thought they were buying our products," said Cvetkovic.

"It also transpired that the forms were being printed in the Czech Republic, and we try to source all of our print in the UK."

Custom Forms had previously licensed its designs to Communisis' Midsomer Norton site. When it discovered what Communisis was doing, it approached the firm with its evidence and requested a settlement and an agreement not to repeat the infringements. When neither was forthcoming, it launched court proceedings last July, which where due to be heard next month.

"After much to-ing and fro-ing, we received a letter saying it [Communisis] would settle and pay costs and damages. It has also signed a court order that prohibits it from using our codes or designs again," said Cvetkovic. "It was all particularly annoying because we're a long-standing customer of the firm."

Communisis declined to comment.