Following the EU General Court’s invalidation of UK supermarket Iceland Foods Ltd’s EU trade marks for ‘Iceland’ as a word and as a figurative sign for their logo, the supermarket chain’s executive chair Lord Richard Walker has publicly declared that he is no longer invested in the dispute.
Instead of appealing the decision made by the General Court, which means that Iceland Foods Ltd no longer has the exclusive right to use the sign ‘Iceland’ in the EU in relation to various goods and services in classes 7, 11, 16, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 35, Lord Walker has declared that he will invest the “couple of hundred grand” that the supermarket would have spent in appealing the decision into creating a ‘rapprochement discount’ for use in Iceland supermarkets as an olive branch to Icelandic people.
While this is a jovial outcome for Lord Walker to make light of, it does follow from years of hard-fought legal proceedings before the EU Intellectual Property Office Tribunal after the government of Iceland issued cancellation proceedings in 2016 following the issues Icelandic companies encountered when using the country’s name in trade. Lord Walker has expressed mild concern around other companies potentially using the ‘Iceland’ name in relation to retail in the EU, though with the Icelandic government’s track record in this matter there may not be much demand for the name from third-parties.
With Lord Walker’s approach, it will be interesting to see how companies react to the namesake becoming available in the EU, especially that given the Trade Mark Directive (2015/2436/EU) is not forgiving to registered trade marks that consist solely of indicators of geographical origin.
If you have any questions on the above, or if you need any advice or support in respect of your own Intellectual Property, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.
