The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Iceland has said that the country is considering suing the frozen foods supermarket Iceland for using its name.

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Fair play I guess, although it is 45 years since the shop first opened. Jon Asbergsson, managing director of Promote Iceland, which is an agency that works with the Icelandic foreign ministry, said:

We are looking for a ‘live and let live’ outcome.

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He went on to explain that the country isn’t actually looking to make Iceland’s supermarkets get rid of its brand, but to instead ensure its firms are able to register the name ‘Iceland’ in the UK and EU:

We didn’t make any objections in the beginning, as we were never going to be running any supermarkets.

But over the course of the years they have been registering the name in several other categories and companies that have Iceland in the name, they (the supermarket) have been objecting to them using the word Iceland in their names or logos.

In reply to the potential lawsuit, a spokesperson for Iceland (the supermarket… this is getting confusing now), said:

Iceland Foods has traded under the Iceland name in the UK since 1970, and is today one of the UK’s most recognised brands. We have also traded as Iceland for many years in other EU countries, and in non-EU countries, including Iceland itself.

We are not aware that our use of the Iceland name has ever caused any confusion with Iceland the country.

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Either way it doesn’t sound like Iceland (the country) is going to bring the supermarket chain to its knees or anything. Plus Iceland is quite a generic name anyway – it’s not like they called themselves ‘Luxemburg’ or the ‘Dominican Republic’ or anything. That would be pretty weird.

To read about the time Iceland got parred to fuck by Nando’s, click HERE.