Intellectual property is getting silly...

OriginalGriff

It's not just Apple, you know... Iceland (the country) versus Iceland (the supermarket) in legal battle[^] TLDR version: Iceland the UK supermarket trademarked "Iceland" EU wide and won't let Iceland the country use it. Iceland the country is not happy. The bit I love is the at the end:

So what should @IcelandFoods call itself to avoid any risk of confusion:
A) Chile
B) Greenland
C) Finland
D) Icy McIceface

Please, please - vote for "D"! :laugh:

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Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter

OriginalGriff wrote:

Iceland the UK supermarket trademarked "Iceland" EU wide

And that shows that all those trademarks and patents has nothing to do with safekeeping your property and its value... It is all about paying first for those bureaucrats...

Skipper: We'll fix it. Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this? Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.

Daniel Pfeffer

The solution is simple: Iceland (the country) should charter a company called The United Kingdom, and register that trademark in all EU languages. Then sit back and watch the fur fly... (Extra points: register all the other EU countries' names in a similar manner.)

If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack. --Winston Churchill

Lost User

Name it 'EU', just to see if anyone buys it :rolleyes:

Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^][](X-Clacks-Overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett)

Chris Maunder

OriginalGriff wrote:

Iceland the UK supermarket trademarked "Iceland" EU wide

Um...how is his possible? You can't trademark something if there's prior use of the mark in commerce. I'm fairly sure Iceland's sold stuff.

cheers Chris Maunder

OriginalGriff

Well, Apple patented "rounded rectangles" and I'm pretty sure they didn't use 'em first either! :laugh:

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den2k88

E) Bankrupt

DURA LEX, SED LEX GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver When I was six, there were no ones and zeroes - only zeroes. And not all of them worked. -- Ravi Bhavnani

parths

Is there still time to trademark 'China' and demand a cut for everything 'Made In China' ?

"It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something." -Ornette Coleman "Philosophy is a study that lets us be unhappy more intelligently." -Anon.

Munchies_Matt

Trademarks, like patents, should be invalid if there is 'prior knowledge', hence since the country existed long before the supermarket the name cant be registered and the country is free to use it any way it damn well likes. And no, Greenland is clearly a fruit and veg chain and Finland specialise in fish. :)

Simon_Whale

Current stats from the Twitter vote Chile 5% Greenland 2% Finland 1% Icy McIceFace 92%

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F ES Sitecore

They didn't give specifics in the article but it will be related to food, people will have shops like "Iceland Fish" or whatever, or have products called "Iceland Apples". If Iceland has been trademarked in relation to food products and your product or company could cause confusion then it's a breach of TM. The fact that your country is called Iceland doesn't give you a legal right to "pass off" your goods as being affiliated with an established brand. For example if you had a chicken shop in Kentucky should you be able to call it "KFC" for Kentucky Fried Chicken? I'm sure you'll agree the answer to that is obviously "no", it's the same concept but on a larger scale. All that being said, they probably will win their case.

Stefan_Lang

Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote:

Iceland the UK supermarket trademarked "Iceland" EU wide

Makes me wonder, is it still trademarked within the UK after the Brexit? Would be ironic if Iceland companies could still use 'Iceland' right there, but not abroad... ;P

GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)

Stefan_Lang

I considered registering 'America', but I like your idea, too :-D

GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)

Stefan_Lang

Agreed. They could register 'Iceland-Food' or 'Iceland-Super' or 'Iceland-Morons', but not just 'Iceland'. It's about time someone told the patent office there is a land called Iceland out there... ;P

GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)

Rage

Not sure it is allowed to trademark something that has been around for so long without anyone claiming it.

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