Thanks to Dr. Piet Bakker for this one.
German wholesale retailer Metro is thinking about suing free paper publisher Metro International after the successful lawsuit in Hungary.
In August (see previous post) the Hungarian Metro was forced to change its name to Metropol after the retailer argued successfully that the use of the ‘Metro’ brand was an infringement to its own right.
According to business website B2B Köln first options would be Italy and France.
Other contested markets could be Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Russia. Also Belgium, the UK and Poland where other publishers operate Metro papers could be affected.
The Metro brand, however, is not used in all markets. In France, Italy, Russia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland the company does use that specific brand name. In the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Spain and the UK the supermarkets are called Makro. In Belgium and Greece both names are used.
In Denmark the Metro paper is called MetroXpress. In Spain it is officially called Metro Directo although Metro is the brand used.
The Metro Cash & Carry group is longer around than Metro International (40 against 13 years) and is active in 28 markets.
No comments:
Post a Comment