Insurer target for wrath of the RAF
THE MAIL ON SUNDAY - 8TH APRIL 2007
The Royal Air Force is locked in a bitter battle over an insurance company’s right to use a roundel logo.
British Insurance applied to use a ‘target’ as its trademark in 2005, but faces flak from the RAF, which recently launched a range of clothes and swimwear featuring the symbol.
In January, Defence Secretary Des Browne objected to British Insurance’s trademark application on the grounds that the roundel is ‘instantly recognisable’ as an RAF symbol.
The RAF said British Insurance’s description of its trademark as a target was a ‘sham’. The RAF trademarked its roundel in 1999, but not for use in financial services.
Simon Burgess, a British Insurance director, has filed a counterclaim to invalidate one of the RAF’s trademarks.
Burgess believes models sporting bikinis featuring the logo denigrates his brand.
‘We have built a substantial reputation and all the swimwear does is bring up the horrific thought of Des Browne in a bikini,’ he said.
The roundel first appeared in 1914 on the underside of Royal Flying Corps planes on the Western Front.
It was placed to distinguish them form German aircraft because the Union flag was thought to look too similar to the cross on enemy planes.
