Mr Walker revealed his dad wanted to call the supermarket Penguin or Igloo (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
‘This legal battle hasn’t taken any toll on us other than time and money. If we lose this round when the decision is made then we’ll appeal to the European Court of Justice.
‘The reality is that this case will have no bearing on our stores, so I understand people may ask what the point of it all is.
‘The reason I’m continuing to fight the case is that I believe it’s about showing our colleagues and customers that the history of our brand as a family-run British success story is important and it’s something I’m willing to stand up for.’
Iceland supermarket first secured its trademark in 2014 but it didn’t take long for the Government of Iceland to come along and lodge a legal challenge in 2016.
Mr Walker was in Luxembourg this time around to appeal against a 2022 ruling which stripped the supermarket of its EU trademark protection for the word ‘Iceland’.
This decision means Iceland the supermarket can not claim a monopoly on the use of the word in the EU but it does not affect its ability to operate or sell its own products in the EU.
Iceland the place (Picture: Getty Images)
Iceland stores operate across many different EU countries (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)
If the supermarket loses this latest appeal, the next step would be to go to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The supermarket operates in many countries across the EU and funnily enough even has one branch in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik.
The Government of Iceland has been contacted for comment by Metro.
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Mr Walker has commented in posts across social media as well.
‘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.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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Publish date : 2024-10-18 02:16:00
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