UK grocery chain Iceland ends trademark fight with Iceland

Iceland, the British grocery chain, has reportedly ended its ten‑year dispute over the “Iceland” trademark and announced a “reconciliation discount” for shoppers in the island nation.

Following the retailer’s third court defeat last year, chief executive Richard Walker said on Wednesday that the company would put the case to rest.

Speaking to the Financial Times, he explained that the “few hundred thousand pounds we would have spent on a final round of EU court fees will instead be redirected into a reconciliation discount for the people of Iceland. That is the plan.”

The concession is expected to be issued as vouchers that Icelandic consumers can redeem at the frozen‑food retailer.

Iceland’s government first sued the UK chain in 2016, contesting the grocery firm’s exclusive European trademark registration for the word “Iceland,” which the state argued blocked domestic companies from marketing abroad.

In July of the previous year, the EU General Court upheld a decision to cancel the retailer’s EU trademark, reaffirming that geographic names must remain free for public use.

Walker told the FT: “We have lost for the third time. We are withdrawing. It is acceptable – we do not need to alter our name.” He added that he was uneasy about “others being able to open stores called Iceland and sell Icelandic products.”

Richard Walker assumed leadership of the chain in 2023 after his father, Malcolm Walker, stepped down from the business he co‑founded in 1970. The younger Walker, formerly aligned with the Conservatives, was recently appointed a Labour peer by Keir Starmer and named the government’s cost‑of‑living champion.

The firm, headquartered in Deeside, Wales, remains privately held by Malcolm Walker and chief executive Tarsem Dhaliwal, who joined as a trainee accountant in 1985.

Iceland was listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1984 and was renamed The Big Food Group before returning to family control in 2012 after a £1.45 billion management buyout led by Malcolm Walker and South African investor Brait. Walker and Dhaliwal bought out Brait in June 2020.

From a single frozen‑food shop in Oswestry, Shropshire, the chain now operates more than 900 outlets across the United Kingdom under the Iceland and The Food Warehouse banners. It also owns Individual Restaurants, which runs the Piccolino and Restaurant Bar & Grill brands.