Iceland’s eight-year battle with Iceland over the name Iceland rages on

For eight years now Iceland Foods has been in an ongoing trademark battle with the Government of Iceland.

The supermarket and the government have now entered the third round of legal proceedings over the supermarket using the word Iceland when selling products in the EU.

Iceland’s managing director, Richard Walker, appeared at the General Court of The European Union in Luxembourg, for the opening statements on October 16.

On X, he posted: ‘Iceland vs Iceland. Fighting for the trademark of our name…

‘Eight years on and three rounds later, today I’m at the second highest EU court: the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg.’

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.

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.

Managing director of Iceland Richard Walker and the Government of Iceland have been contacted for comment by Metro.

Mr Walker has commented in posts across 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.’

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