The representatives of the Icelandic government, Business Iceland and the Icelandic Tourism Board met with a delegation from the UK supermarket Iceland Foods on Friday to discuss a solution to the strange trademark dispute between the country Iceland and the UK supermarket. According to an announcement from the Icelandic Foreign Ministry the negotiations failed to produce an agreement both parties could agree upon.
Iceland Foods has registered Iceland as trademark in all European Union countries, through the EU Intellectual Property Office. Icelandic authorities have sued to have this trademark invalidated, as it is unreasonably broad, the Icelandic authorities argue.
Read more: Iceland has had enough of UK supermarket chain Iceland Foods abusing its trademark
At the Friday meeting the Icelandic foreign ministry stressed that they would not back down on its demand that Iceland Foods withdraw its trademark for Iceland, a demand the UK supermarket was unwilling to meet.
Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir, the Foreign Minister of Iceland, told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV that the Icelandic government would not back down on its demand: Our demand is very clear, and that is that Icelandic companies should be able to use the brand name Iceland, and that it is not some private company which owns the trademark rights to the word Iceland in all member states of the European Union.
Lilja stressed that the Icelandic government would not back down on this demand and that Iceland would seek all legal avenues to have the trademark invalidated. The Icelandic government has argued that Iceland Foods has used its registration of the word Iceland as a trademark to harass Icelandic companies who have used the word Iceland to describe their country of origin as well as the Icelandic Tourism Board, attempting to block the advertising campaign Inspired by Iceland.
The representatives of the Icelandic government, Business Iceland and the Icelandic Tourism Board met with a delegation from the UK supermarket Iceland Foods on Friday to discuss a solution to the strange trademark dispute between the country Iceland and the UK supermarket. According to an announcement from the Icelandic Foreign Ministry the negotiations failed to produce an agreement both parties could agree upon.
Iceland Foods has registered Iceland as trademark in all European Union countries, through the EU Intellectual Property Office. Icelandic authorities have sued to have this trademark invalidated, as it is unreasonably broad, the Icelandic authorities argue.
Read more: Iceland has had enough of UK supermarket chain Iceland Foods abusing its trademark
At the Friday meeting the Icelandic foreign ministry stressed that they would not back down on its demand that Iceland Foods withdraw its trademark for Iceland, a demand the UK supermarket was unwilling to meet.
Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir, the Foreign Minister of Iceland, told the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service RÚV that the Icelandic government would not back down on its demand: Our demand is very clear, and that is that Icelandic companies should be able to use the brand name Iceland, and that it is not some private company which owns the trademark rights to the word Iceland in all member states of the European Union.
Lilja stressed that the Icelandic government would not back down on this demand and that Iceland would seek all legal avenues to have the trademark invalidated. The Icelandic government has argued that Iceland Foods has used its registration of the word Iceland as a trademark to harass Icelandic companies who have used the word Iceland to describe their country of origin as well as the Icelandic Tourism Board, attempting to block the advertising campaign Inspired by Iceland.
