Suffolk station Fresh Gold Radio threatened with legal action by Global over name
A small team of online broadcasters have been threatened with legal action by a radio giant because their station includes the word 'gold' in its name.
Fresh Gold Radio, which is based in Felixstowe, Suffolk, was issued with a cease and desist letter by Global Media - the UK's biggest radio operator.
Global owns Gold Radio, a national station playing hits from the 1950s to 1980s, and the letter warned that the use of the word infringed its registered trademarks.
Barry Garnham, owner of Fresh Gold Radio, said: "[Global] said they owned the word.
"They have made suggestions that they would be happy with. We have tried to accommodate them, but we don't really want to lose our identity.
"If we were to lose the term Gold I think the station would lose its momentum and lose its identity to a greater degree.
"I've got no idea where they are coming from and how we are affecting them. I don't know quite what they expect."
The internet station was set up in 2012 to create a more local service after many of the East of England’s commercial radio stations became part of Global.
It is staffed entirely by volunteers and barely covers its costs, they said.
Describing the "David vs Goliath story", Mr Garnham said Fresh Gold Radio used the term because it wanted to use music from decades gone by, but with a "fresh feel".
He also noted that many products, such as Nescafe, use the word gold in their names.
Steve Baldwin, who also works at the station, said: "We're not a threat [to Global]. Lots of stations use the word Gold in their name - around 20 of them, so are they going to go after all of them too?"
Explaining the legalities around the cease and desist letter, Dr Nick Scharf, associate professor in law at the University of East Anglia, said: "[Global] have got a case as they do own the word Gold as a trademark - that's been theirs since 2011.
"They have the right to enforce it over anyone they think is infringing it.
"Companies do this because they can and there are plenty of examples of them doing it. A trademark is a company's brand so there's a lot of value that it represents.
"In terms of other companies using the term like Nescafe Gold, chances are they've registered it, but because it's across things other than radio, it's not caused Global Radio any issue."
Dr Scharf added that Fresh Gold Radio may have been an "unlucky" target, as trademark disputes mostly come through registration, rather than enforcements.
"On the face of it, [the station] does not seem to have anything commercially which would be conflicting with Global's trademark," Dr Scharf said.
"Fresh Gold Radio could turn around and say they're not operating to take advantage of the trademark in a commercial way."
Global did not wish to comment when approached by ITV News Anglia.
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