UK company ordered to remove Battersea Power Station from logo

A UK property agency has been told it must rebrand its 10-year-old logo as it does not own the rights to use the image of an iconic London building.

The Battersea Project Land Company (BPLC), which owns the Battersea Power Station, has ordered South London-based Urban Lettings to remove a silhouette of the building from its logo because it infringes the company's trademark.

The BPLC, which is due to regenerate the grade II-listed building as part of an £8 billion ($12.5 billion) scheme, told Urban Lettings it had until the end of the month to comply with the order.

BPLC said any use of the image of the power station could damagethe goodwill associated with its brand.

Christian Walker, the owner of Urban Lettings, who did not register a trademark for his business’s logo, told WIPR he would rebrand the business instead of fighting the ruling.

“We took legal advice but we are a small company without large resources and were under the impression that we probably would not be successful against a company with endless resources,” Walker said. He has applied for a slight extension to the compliance period.

“I estimate it will cost us around £2,000 ($3,000) to rebrand but a lot of time and effort will have to go into that as well.

“We will need to change the company website, business cards and property boards and there are also a number of landlords who associate us with that logo.

“In retrospect, I probably should have registered the image when we started as it was unlikely to have been contested then.”

According to Matthew Sammon, a trademark attorney and partner at Marks & Clerk LLP in London, the news was a “cautionary tale” for business owners.

“When you develop a brand or set up a new business, you cannot assume you are free to use any name or logo. Instead, you need to conduct searches to make sure you are free to use your new brand, and then protect it yourself,” Sammon said.

“It’s easy to think that no one has rights over an iconic landmark, but as we can see this is not always the case.”

In the last 30 years there have been numerous attempts to revive the derelict site including a bid from nearby Chelsea Football Club to turn it into a new stadium.

BPLC declined to comment.