Iceland demands rivals stop selling prawn rings

Iceland are trying to trademark its King Prawn Rings, claiming they invented them

Supermarket Iceland has applied to trademark its "iconic King Prawn Rings" and demanded other supermarkets stop selling them.

The chain, which has its headquarters in Flintshire, claimed it had been beset by "copy crustaceans" since it launched its product in 1991.

In an open letter published on X, formerly Twitter, it took aim at Aldi, Tesco, Lidl and Asda.

Lidl said: "Here was us thinking it was a classic 1970s party dish."

But on social media Iceland executive chairman, Richard Walker, said: "The King Prawn Ring is ours and we won't be letting you off the hook."

The letter, addressed to "all other supermarkets" and signed "Iceland Foods", accused its competitors of thinking they were "pretty shrimpressive", adding: "There's only one original and that's us."

It said that after 30 years it had had enough of other stores' "fishy behaviour".

It added: "We are today asking you to remove your pretender King Prawn Rings from sale and to not include them in any of your impending Christmas ranges.

"Doing so will ensure you don't have any action taken against you should our applications be granted.

"Our lawyers are more than ready to dive into legal waters, and trust us, they're well-armed to claw back what's rightfully ours."

The firm filed its application with the Intellectual Property Office to trademark the product, which it dubbed "shellfishly brilliant" on 9 September.

But Giles Parsons, of the Law Society’s intellectual property law committee, dismissed the matter a publicity stunt.

He said: "Trademarks are registered for signs in respect of goods and services, such as Nike being a sign registered for footwear.

Iceland executive chairman, Richard Walker, said the prawn ring belonged to the supermarket

"Trademarks have to be capable of function as a badge of trade origin, so they can’t be descriptive."

The term "king prawn ring", he said, was descriptive.

He expected the application would be refused.

"It is likely that they are using this application before Christmas to flag that their king prawn ring is the original one," he said.

Aldi and Tesco, have been approached for comment. Asda declined to comment, but Aldi posted on X, alongside Iceland's letter: "Lol our lawyers aren't scared of nothing".