Iceland v Iceland trademark dispute becomes increasingly bitter
Frosty relations have continued between Iceland the country and Iceland Foods despite a meeting to thaw the ice in the trademark dispute.
On Friday, December 2, the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with representatives of the supermarket to discuss the registration of the word ‘Iceland’ with the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
However, this seems to have failed. The government issued a statement claiming that Iceland Foods had “refused to relinquish exclusive control of the word ‘Iceland’ and presented proposals that fell short of Iceland’s expectations”.
Legal action to invalidate the registration of the word mark will proceed, said the government.
WIPR previously reported that the Icelandic government confirmed it had taken action in November seeking to invalidate the registration on the basis that the term is “exceptionally broad and ambiguous in definition”.
The government added that the registration to a private company of a country name that enjoys “highly positive” national branding “defies logic and is untenable as it hinders companies and entities to register their products with their country of origin”.
“This issue is a matter of principle with important global implications for trade in goods and services, and Icelandic authorities will bring it up at the relevant international level,” it said.
The supermarket chain said it noted “with regret” the statement issued by the government “in which it rejected Iceland Foods’ attempt to achieve an amicable resolution”.
Malcolm Walker, Iceland CEO and founder, said: “We very much regret that the Icelandic government was not willing to hold any serious discussion with us on ways in which we might co-operate to our mutual benefit.
He added that although the supermarket has “no wish to engage in a public argument”, it is important for people to understand that a number of the government’s comments on this issue are “factually incorrect”.
Walker said that the government’s claim that the country has made “multiple efforts” to negotiate with the chain and that these efforts have been “met with unrealistic and unacceptable demands” is untrue.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, they have made no direct approach to us whatsoever about trademark issues since 2012, which is why we sent a small delegation to Reykjavik on Friday to try to achieve a resolution,” he said.
“This got nowhere because it rapidly became clear that the Icelandic authorities have no interest in reaching a compromise.”
