Sweden is vying to become the first country in the world to trademark its name.
Birmingham, Alabama. Dover, Arkansas. Newcastle, California. Believe it or not, these are all places which took their names from towns and cities which already existed.
Town twinning and city name duplication is as old as time, but what isn’t is countries sharing a title. Fearing that others may borrow its name and making visitors turn up to the wrong place by accident, Sweden has applied to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to protect its name from international duplicates.
The Swedes w torryhat doubles might confuse unsuspecting travellers who want to experience the original Sweden, and so it is now making moves to protect its turf. Sweden is calling on people around the world to support its application to prevent travel mix-ups by signing an online petition.
The trademark application aims to ensure no one packs for the Swedish lakes and forests only to find themselves in a far-off town with the same name but none of the Scandi charm.
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CHAD BLAKLEY)
According to Visit Sweden research, almost half (45%) of travellers in the UK admitted to finding it confusing that certain destinations have the same names as others when planning their travels. An unhappy 7% even confessed they travelled to the wrong place. With over 7.4 million British travellers interested in Sweden as a travel destination, there’s the potential for over 595,000 travellers to end up in the wrong Sweden.
“It’s flattering that others want to be called Sweden, but we’d prefer if there was only one. Our Sweden. The one with the lakes, islands, forests, and the world’s best flat-pack furniture,” says Susanne Anderson, CEO at Visit Sweden. “We want everyone to join us, sign the petition, and help travellers discover the one and only, and original, Sweden.”
Visit Sweden is applying to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to trademark the country’s name.
A spokesperson for Visit Sweden said: “This will ensure that when someone says ‘Sweden,’ everyone knows they mean the real deal – the one where you can catch the Northern Lights, enjoy fika, take home some iconic design and possibly meet a moose or two. And 35% of Swedes support the idea too.
“And it’s not just the Swedes who agree. Almost half (45%) of younger travellers aged 20-32 in the UK support the idea of trademarking names to prevent location mix-ups. With multiple Germanys, dozens of Americas, and at least 34 duplicate London’s globally, it’s not hard to see why a little clarity might be in order, ensuring a little less geographical guessing for everyone.”
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