Fresh Direct fights Morrisons trademark application
It is believed that the supermarket group – which recently took a 10% stake in the New York food retailer FreshDirect – plans to use the name for its home delivery service. It announced on March 10 that it plans to build a "profitable online business" to rival the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury's and Ocado.
But David Burns, md of Bicester based fruit, vegetable and salad supplier Fresh Direct – which has no connection with the US company – told FoodManufacture.co.uk he hoped he could dissuade Morrisons from using the name.
Commercial rights
Burns said: “I believe that having operated under that name for the last 16 years we have certain commercial rights, which we want to protect.”
“I suspect they have stuck in a speculative application for the UK because it suits them. I can’t blame them for attempting to do so but clearly we would have to object, although we have yet to see the details.”
Burns said it was inconceivable that Morrisons would be unaware of the existence of Fresh Direct in the UK, which takes some 35,000 orders a week from foodservice clients and operates a network of regional distribution hubs.
He also thought it was irrational for Morrisons to attempt to register Fresh Direct as a trademark in so many product classes.
In addition to applying to use the name for home delivery and fruit and vegetable sales, the grocer has also asked to apply the trademark in areas as diverse as antifreeze, ironmongery, disposable nappies and Christmas tree decorations.
Megaphone diplomacy
Fresh Direct has not instructed its lawyers to take formal action and Burns insisted he did not want to “take an aggressive approach” or engage in “megaphone diplomacy”. He said: “We probably just need to sit down with them and have a sensible discussion.”
Morrisons took its circa. 10% stake in FreshDirect in March for a fee of £32m. The deal included handing the US firm a minority stake in Morrisons’ planned online retail operation in the London area.
Discussing the purchase in its preliminary results announcement for 2010/11, Morrisons said: "We believe our investment will, itself, be highly successful, but that the learning we will get from it will be invaluable. This investment is the first step in developing the offer that we will ultimately launch in the UK."
