A celeb in South Korea - ISSI FISH & CHIPS is the trademark of the month in December

The best Fish & Chips place in Iceland, according to Google is in the town of Reykjanesbaer, a few minutes drive from Keflavik airport. ISSI FISH & CHIPS is a hidden gem in a simple container house near the road to the airport and is visited by locals and tourists alike who want to please their taste buds. There, Jóhann Issi Hallgrímsson stands with a bowler hat over the high-tech and internet-connected deep-frying pots and fries cod and cod-cheeks from Þorbjörn in Grindavík, for which he has become almost world-famous.

Issi recently applied for the registration of a word and figurative mark at the Icelandic Intellectual Property Office, and its employees have now chosen it as the trademark of December.

The take-away stall has a rating of 4.9 out of 5 on Google and many of its guests say that Issi offers the best Fish & Chips they have ever had. Issi says that a British couple recently told him that his fish was even "worth the trip to Iceland". A recommendation doesn't get much better than that. The place has also received great coverage in the media and on social media, and many customers specifically look for the place after seeing coverage of it in international media. Issi says that there was an explosion in business after a Tik-Tok star talked about the place and that he has been told that he is famous in South Korea after a Korean influencer talked about the place and he frequently poses in selfies with Koreans who come to taste this unique fish and meet this famous man.

But why did he apply for registration of the trademark? Issi says that it is because he has no idea who comes to the stall and he does not want anyone to be able to easily steal the brand and the idea. He is very happy with the logo and many designers have told him they like it because it is stylish and simple, but still communicates well what service it stands for.

What pushed them especially now is that people in Singapore are interested in opening takeaway stalls under the ISSI FISH & CHIPS brand and have, among other things, recently invited him and his wife and co-owner to Singapore. It was therefore time to secure ownership of the trademark, and shortly, registrations in foreign markets are to be considered.

Issi applied for registration of the word and figurative mark ISSI FISH & CHIPS at the ISIPO in March and it was registered in November, i.a. for fish, sauces and catering services in categories 29, 30 and 43.

The trademark of the month is a new initiative at the ISIPO, modelled after similar projects at other Nordic intellectual property offices. The goal of choosing one trademark to be discussed each month is to raise awareness of the importance of trademark registrations and to promote the ISIPO’s activities. The organization's staff chooses the trademark of the month from a group of new and recently renewed Icelandic trademarks that represent Icelandic products and/or services. The trademark of the month has clear distinctive features, it must not be descriptive, nor must there be a risk of confusion with other brands.