SUPERMARKET VS COUNTRY: ICELAND VS ICELAND
A famous frozen food store is facing a legal challenge, against the country with the same name, to try and trademark the name of the store.
The country Iceland, which became independent in 1944, has battled against the supermarket's attempts to trademark the brand name for decades stating: "Iceland is widely received as a geographical name and should have never been approved for trademark in the first place".
The EU ruled against the shop in 2019 meaning it will now be appealed at the Grand Board of EU Intellectual Property Office.
The supermarket first made an attempt to trademark the store's name in 2002, before many of our second-year students were born.
In 2016, Malcolm Walker, founder of Iceland said: "We have no desire whatsoever to stand in the way of Iceland, the country making use of their own name to promote their own products.” “so long as it does not conflict or cause confusion with our own business."