Iceland isn't a Registered Trademark Anymore

Cancelled.

On April 5th, the EUIPO Cancellation Division invalidated the EU trademark ICELAND that had been registered by Iceland Foods Limited, a UK based grocery chain (a copy of the decision is mirrored on Mega.nz).

The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs contended that ICELAND should not have been registered because the mark designates geographical origin. The Division agreed and found that the consumers would believe that the relevant goods came from or could come from the country of Iceland, and therefore Iceland should not have been registered.

The grocery chain then argued that the ICELAND mark had acquired distinctiveness and therefore was registrable on that ground. However, the grocery store failed to submit sufficient evidence of acquired distinctiveness from all of the relevant countries in the EU.

#trademark #iceland