TM application filed for Queen Elizabeth II’s image
The UK’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has applied to register the iconic image of the head of Queen Elizabeth II.
The image appears on postage stamps distributed throughout the UK.
A spokesperson for the Royal Mail Group, the UK’s postal service, confirmed to WIPR that BEIS applied to register the trademark.
The Royal Mail said it has historically ensured that the “iconic image of the Queen’s head has the appropriate legal protection” and that the trademark application is intended to “help ensure that this protection continues”.
It explained: “All UK postage stamps issued by the group bear an image of HM The Queen, typically the distinctive profile image of the Queen’s head based on a design by Arnold Machin and first used on UK postage stamps in 1967.”
Machin was a British artist, known for his coin and stamp designs. He designed the royal portrait featured on UK coins as well as British stamps during the 20th century, and modern stamp designs are based on his early work.
According to The New York Times his royal portrait is one of the world’s most reproduced images. More than 60 billion of the distinctive stamps, first issued in 1967, were issued in 80 colours.
The Royal Mail has confirmed that it plans to “continue using the Machin image and similar images on its postage stamps”, amid reports that the Queen herself is unhappy about the trademark application, as reported by the Express.
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