{"id":5917,"date":"2023-03-07T09:13:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T20:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/lord-of-the-bins-one-ring-to-avoid-it-all\/"},"modified":"2023-03-07T09:13:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T20:13:24","slug":"lord-of-the-bins-one-ring-to-avoid-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamesandwells.com\/au\/lord-of-the-bins-one-ring-to-avoid-it-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord of the Bins. One ring to avoid it all."},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in Waikato Business News March 2023 edition<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cLord of the Bins. One ring to remove it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite a clever name and slogan for a waste removal business, you might think. That\u2019s obviously what Nick Lockwood and Dan Walker, the operators of the business in Hove, England, thought when they chose the name and phrase.<\/p>\n

Alas, Middle-Earth Enterprises, LLC, who owns the rights in \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d and \u201cOne ring to rule them all\u201d in the UK, do not share their thinking. As recently reported and discussed,1<\/sup> Middle-Earth Enterprises has demanded Messrs Lockwood and Walker change their business\u2019s name and slogan on the grounds they infringe Middle-Earth Enterprises\u2019 trade mark rights. Add to that the use of an almost identical font for \u201cLord of the Bins\u201d to the \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d font by Messrs Lockwood and Walker and you can certainly see where Middle-Earth Enterprises is coming from.<\/p>\n

Mr Lockwood described Middle-Earth Enterprises\u2019 letter as \u201cbully-boy tactics\u201d,2 <\/sup>while Mr Walker claimed, \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to make people smile and make a living\u201d. While the latter may be so, on reviewing the facts I would have to dispute Mr Lockwood\u2019s assertion. Middle-Earth Enterprises is the owner of very valuable trade mark rights, and as the owner of those rights it will \u2013 like many other businesses \u2013 enforce those rights if it perceives they are under threat.<\/p>\n

In this case, the threat to Middle-Earth Enterprises\u2019 rights might not be obvious \u2013 collecting waste is, after all, a kingdom away from a quest to save the world from consummate evil \u2013 but it is present nonetheless as many a trade mark lawyer will tell you, particularly given the use of \u201cOne ring to remove it all\u201d and the use of an almost identical font for \u201cLord of the Bins\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible Messrs Lockwood and Walker might not have attracted Middle-Earth Enterprises\u2019 wrath if they had used \u201cLord of the Bins\u201d in a different font and not used the \u201cOne ring\u2026\u201d slogan.3 <\/sup>A more cautious approach however would have been not to use the name at all (as, interestingly, Hutt City Council (NZ) chose not to do in 2021 for one of its electric recycling trucks4<\/sup>). The unfortunate reality though is that Messrs Lockwood and Walker \u2018chose\u2026poorly\u2019 (to quote the Grail Knight from \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d).<\/p>\n

As I wrote in an article for this publication in 2019,5<\/sup> when it comes to choosing a name for your business, product or service, it makes sense to choose wisely. That means conducting a trade mark search before you settle on a name and<\/u> calling a specialist trade mark attorney for advice. Thus it is that one ring to a trade mark attorney by Messrs Lockwood and Walker could have avoided it all.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Eg. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2023\/feb\/04\/refuse-firm-lord-of-the-bins-ordered-to-change-its-name-by-tolkien-franchise<\/a>; https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/national\/programmes\/thepanel\/audio\/2018876728\/the-panel-with-allan-blackman-and-julia-hartley-moore<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/news\/21258015\/lord-of-the-bins-change-name\/<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. As the makers of a children\u2019s game called \u201cLord of the Bins\u201d have done: https:\/\/lumaworld.in\/products\/lord-of-the-bins-a-strategy-card-game-to-learn-waste-management<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/nz\/trucky-mctruckface-christened-as-one-of-lower-hutts-seven-new-recycling-trucks\/HU5Z5KEZR5QQGBKNBDK7ZB5PXY\/<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. https:\/\/wbn.co.nz\/2019\/03\/07\/names-have-power-so-choose-yours-wisely\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    First published in Waikato Business News March 2023 edition \u201cLord of the Bins. One ring to remove it all.\u201d Quite a clever name and slogan for a waste removal business, you might think. That\u2019s obviously what Nick Lockwood and Dan Walker, the operators of the business in Hove, England, thought when they chose the name…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"class_list":["post-5917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trade-marks-au","insight-resource-articles-au"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLord of the Bins. 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