The Danish version of The Dragons den is The Lions Den

The Lions Den, has recently seen the use of the former King Frederik IX’s name and portrait not only for a jewellery business, it’s also used for the business website and email address. 

When the woman who has created the business was questioned by one of the lions about permission to use Queen Margrethe’s fathers name and everything else, she assured everyone that she was on top of the situation and that she was allowed to use it the way she did and that she had spoken to both solicitors and business advisors and was given the green light to move forward using this name. Apparently she was inspired by Queen Margrethe’s father for the name of her jewellery business.

It turns out that she fibbed. The Royal Family’s communications department has answered questions from a Danish newspaper, Berlingske Tidende, about the case and they say that the Royal Family have never given permission for anything of the sort. It’s certainly not legal to use the portrait of King Frederik IX nor the Royal Palace on someones website.  

What baffles me a little bit here is the fact that the Royal Family don’t have someone monitoring the European trade mark database. Had they had that this business would not have been able to exist for 4 years, nor would the woman who has created the business been able to register the European Trade Mark, because they would have stopped it in the 2 month opposition period. The Danish Trade Mark authority hadn’t noted the registration because the registration didn’t happen through their offices. There can be no doubt that they would have alerted the Royal Family and asked about what kind of action to proceed with.

I imagine that the consumer ombudsman will take action here and I feel quite certain that the business will be forced at least to rebrand in the best case scenario and in worst case scenario forced to close altogether. 

Rebranding as we know is a highly costly affair, so the question is wether the business will survive or not after this case. Because you have to find a new name for the business. Then you have to see if the website is available. Then or maybe even as the very first step: due diligence, is this infringing upon somebody else’s rights or not? Can I register this as a trade mark? 

My advice to anyone:
When in doubt ask the question of the people, for instance ask The TradeMark Accelerator, who can give the correct answer and don’t ever pretend that everything is honkey dory when you are on national television, wether here, in the UK, or in any other country. It’s bound to come out and then the people who own what ever right you are infringing upon will make you stop and in some cases even make you pay dearly for your faux pas. 

Next logical step: Book a 15 minute Trade Mark Clarity

Call With Céleste, The TradeMark Accelerator