Iceland v Iceland: Country presses on with legal action after talks with British company fail

The Icelandic government will proceed with legal action against Iceland Foods over a trademark row after talks between the two parties broke down.

The Nordic country is fighting the British retailer's trademark registration of the word "Iceland".

Iceland's foreign ministry described the supermarket having exclusive control of the name as "untenable".

The supermarket has traded under the Iceland name in the UK since 1970.

Last week the north Atlantic island asked the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to invalidate Iceland Food's Europe-wide registration of the name arguing Icelandic firms had often been unable to describe their products as "Icelandic".

A delegation from Iceland Foods flew to Reykjavik on Friday to try and resolve the dispute, but failed to find a resolution.

Iceland's foreign ministry said Iceland Foods had refused to relinquish sole control of the word "Iceland" and presented proposals that fell short of the country's expectations.

Iceland would proceed with legal action to invalidate the retailer's trademark.

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

A spokesman for Iceland Foods declined to comment.