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ARTICLE · 12 SEPTEMBER 2022

A Tale Of Two Icelands

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On Friday 9th September 2022, the Grand Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (‘EUIPO') held its first ever oral hearing.

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Lee Curtis
Lee Curtis
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On Friday 9th September 2022, the Grand Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office ('EUIPO') held its first ever oral hearing.

The Hearing which was live streamed concerned an Application for Invalidity by Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs against two European Union trade mark registrations for the word ICELAND and stylised word mark ICELAND:

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in the name of British supermarket chain Iceland Foods Limited. Although the decision was reserved and is unlikely to be forthcoming for months, the case and indeed the hearing raised a series of interesting questions over the registration of geographical terms, and in particular the names of countries.

A bit of 'Icelandic' history

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