Iceland Foods has begun the latest appeal in its trademark battle with the Icelandic government.
Iceland Foods is a major supermarket chain, based in England, that sells frozen foods and the Icelandic government is not happy about the stores using the word 'Iceland' when selling products in the European Union.
Recently, at the General Court of The European Union in Luxembourg, the supermarket’s appeal against the EU Intellectual Property Office’s decision in December 2022 to uphold a 2019 ruling that stripped the supermarket of its EU trademark protection for the word ‘Iceland’, has commenced.
It’s the third round of legal proceedings in what is now an eight-year legal battle with the Icelandic government over the use of the word Iceland when selling products into the EU. This current round is anticipated to last "years" and, in many ways, appears to echo the long running legal dispute of Jarndyce v Jarndyce, the fictional case in Bleak House by Charles Dickens.
The supermarket first secured the EU trademark in 2014. However, in 2016, the Icelandic government lodged a legal challenge after the Deeside-based retailer repeatedly attempted to block Icelandic producers from using their country’s name to market products.
Iceland exports to franchises in several countries globally through its wholesale arm, including many in the EU. There is also a single Iceland store in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik.
The 2022 decision does not affect Iceland Foods’ ability to operate or sell its own products in the EU, but it means it cannot claim a monopoly on the use of the word in the bloc.
Iceland (that's the store, not the country) has not revealed the basis of its latest appeal but anticipates the case could carry on for “years”. Chairman Richard Walker commented on social media: “It’s a fun headline and a seemingly quirky case…but for me personally and our family business it’s a really important issue…,” he said on LinkedIn.
“We have always understood our name to depict ‘land of Ice’ rather than making any reference or insinuation to Iceland as a country. And we of course will protect our business and identity - but have never tried to stop Icelandic businesses from using ‘Iceland’ descriptively to promote their products,” he added.