Internal policy to register all trademarks

The COLLAB product line is the result of a collaboration between Ölgerðin and Feel Iceland. These are sugar-free caffeine-drinks with collagen derived from Icelandic fish skin. The COLLAB products have gained great popularity in Iceland, and exports have already begun.

Success Beyond Expectations

According to Davíð Sigurðsson, brand manager for COLLAB, the first COLLAB products entered the market in 2019, and the reception exceeded even the highest expectations. He says there was a clear gap in the market for locally produced caffeine drinks. COLLAB has been a registered trademark with the Icelandic Intellectual Property Office since 2018. Sigurðsson explains that the name COLLAB refers to collagen, collaboration and laboratories. "It is very important to us to register trademarks to protect them. It’s simply an internal policy at Ölgerðin that we register all the trademarks we create and own."

Opportunists saw an opening

Now that the company is taking its first steps in exporting, the trademark has been registered abroad, including with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and in other Western countries. However, there was a slight hitch. "It turned out that opportunists had seen  an opening to register the trademark because the brand had gained attention abroad before the actual exports began." Sigurðsson says that the company was however able to prove Ölgerðin’s ownership of the trademark, and the individuals involved were merely opportunists, known as "trademark trolls." Now, everything is back on track, and it’s full speed ahead, he says.

More about trademark registration.