The case concerns the basic interests of Icelandic enterprises involved in foreign trade. The Icelandic authorities, in partnership with Business Iceland and the SA Confederation associated with Icelandic Enterprise, filed Iceland’s request for a declaration associated with invalidity with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) in 2016. Oral proceedings before the Board of Attractiveness were held last Sept. The Icelandic State’s 2016 request that EUIPO invalidate the word mark ICELAND has been based on the trademark not satisfying the legal requirements to get registration as a European Union brand. In 2019, the EUROPEAN UNION Intellectual Property Office recognized all of the Icelandic State’s requests when it figured the retail chain’s brand registration of the word tag ICELAND was invalid in its entirety. In its ruling of December 15, the Fantastic Board of Appeal verifies all the points of that choosing. The time-limit to appeal the finding to the Court of Justice of the European Union is 15 February 2023.
“This unequivocal finding of the Board of Appeal is very pleasing; however , this entire case is quite absurd, ” said Ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) for Foreign Affairs Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir. “It is of prime importance pertaining to Icelandic export enterprises to be able to refer to their origin, specifically considering that our country has a reputation for purity and high quality. No-one should be able to state ownership of the name of a sovereign state. ”
The Icelandic authorities and parties to the case stressed that it was necessary to reach the substantive finding in the Board of Appeals’ deliberation from the case, this being an unprecedented case for Icelandic interests as there are no identified incidences of a similar use of a geographical name within trademark law. The celebrations to the case have had various meetings over the years to discuss the compromise, but these have not yielded an acceptable conclusion.
The Board of Appeals’ findings regarding the phrase mark
The Board of Appeals’ findings regarding the logo
“This finding is really a big victory and defends the value inherent in having the ability to identify with the country associated with origin and the valuable brand Iceland , ” said Minister better Education, Science and Innovation Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir. “It is also likely that the obtaining will affect developments in international intellectual property law and it is pleasing to think that Iceland is leading that process. ” Europe Intellectual Property Office’s Grand Board of Appeal provides rejected all of the requests of the British retail chain Iceland Foods Ltd regarding the technique word mark Iceland . The company can no longer stop Icelandic enterprises from identifying themselves with their nation of origin when marketing their goods and services in the Western european Economic Area.
