Iceland v Iceland: Supermarket hits out at country over name legal action

Iceland, the country, is taking legal action against the retailer over the exclusive use of the name Iceland.

Talks took place between representatives of the country and the supermarket on Friday – but rather than settling matters the war of words has ramped up once again.

Iceland chief executive Malcolm Walker, who founded the company in Oswestry in 1970, rejected claims from the Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs that it had attempted to reach a settlement with the business.

"Nothing could be further from the truth," he said. "In fact, they have made no direct approach to us whatsoever about trademark issues since 2012, which is why we sent a small delegation to Reykjavik on Friday to try to achieve a resolution.

"This got nowhere because it rapidly became clear that the Icelandic authorities have no interest in reaching a compromise."

Mr Walker added: "We have no real idea why this has suddenly become such a major problem for Iceland (the country).

"Iceland Foods had Icelandic majority shareholders and Icelandic representatives on its board for seven years to 2012.

"At no point in all those years did any representative of Iceland (the country) raise the slightest concern about our company's branding.

"All we have ever sought to do – and will continue to do – is to prevent other food and retail companies from representing themselves as 'Iceland' in ways that could cause confusion with our brand."

The company said it had first opposed the use of Iceland's "Inspired By Iceland" slogan because the country had used it to promote goods which are similar to those sold by the retailer.

That appears to have been the spark that led to the Icelandic Government attempting to remove the company's exclusive use of the word Iceland in its branding.

Following Friday's short-lived talks, the country said: "The registration of a country name that enjoys highly positive national branding to a private company defies logic and is untenable as it hinders companies and entities to register their products with their country of origin.

"This issue is a matter of principle with important global implications for trade in goods and services and Icelandic authorities will bring it up at the relevant international level."