Iceland vs Iceland: Supermarket says country is unwilling to hold 'any serious discussion' about trademark battle

The country has launched legal action against the chain

The government of Iceland announced that it will proceed with legal action against Iceland Foods (Reuters)

The supermarket Iceland has hit back at the Icelandic government after it shunned the retailer’s attempt to settle their trademark dispute.

The government of Iceland announced that it will proceed with legal action against Iceland Foods, which owns the European trademark for using the name Iceland, claiming the supermarket prevents the country's companies from calling their products Icelandic.

Malcolm Walker, Iceland Foods founder and chief executive, said the company sent a delegation to Reykjavik on Friday but no agreement was reached.

Mr Walker said: "[The talks] got nowhere because it rapidly became clear that the Icelandic authorities have no interest in reaching a compromise," said founder and chief executive Malcolm Walker.

"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," he said.

The government claims that, during last week's meeting, Iceland Foods refused to give up control over the word and presented unsatisfactory proposals to resolve the situation.

"The registration of a country name that enjoys highly positive national branding to a private company defies logic and is untenable," Iceland foreign ministry said on Friday.

One significant factor that could count against the Icelandic government’s legal challenge is that the application for the Iceland trademark – granted in 2014 – was actually filed by the supermarket chain back in 2002. This means the the mark was granted after lengthy and rigorous process.

Iceland Foods added that it still hoped an amicable arrangement could be reached.

The supermarket has almost 900 stores in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Czech Republic and Iceland (the country).