007 firm refused licence to chill

[Blowfeld]

007 firm refused licence to chill

05 February 2010
By Liz Lee
A fridge repair company in Northampton has been left shaken and stirred after being threatened with legal action by cinema giant MGM.
Bosses at 007 Refrigeration, based in Great Billing, have been told to stop claiming they have a "licence to chill" because the name of the company infringes copyrights belonging to the James Bond movie franchise.

Co-director Mick Purcell said he
ADVERTISEMENT
received a letter from lawyers Simmons & Simmons, acting on behalf of film distributors MGM and United Artists Corporation (UAC), demanding he alter all of his company's branding.

He said: "Quantum of Solace took in more than £15 million on its first day. It would be a pretty extraordinary day doing fridge repairs and air conditioning if we managed that.

"We have been accused of "passing off" the James Bond films, which suggests we are going out making spy movies and claiming to be James Bond.

"Clearly, we are not."

007 Refrigeration has been given two weeks to alter all of its branding, including its fleet of distinctive vans, staff uniforms and stationery, after trading as 007 for almost six years.

Mr Purcell and his business partner, Rob Dunne, said they decided to capitulate to the demands of MGM because the firm could not afford to be drawn into a lengthy legal battle with the organisation.

Mr Dunne said: "Their purse strings are a lot longer than ours.

"There was a dating agency in Russia called From Russia with Love, and they won their case but it took them eight years.

"We are not a huge company and I can't think it would do MGM any harm to have us using the 007 branding, and it is something which everyone remembers.

"But the fact is we need to be out on the street drumming up business and not meeting solicitors and going to court."

From now on the firm will be called 700 Refrigeration, and the process of removing all the former Bond branding from its assets has begun.

The letter from Simmons & Simmons warned the firm that their clients retained the sole rights to use 007 and the phrase "licence to kill".

It added: "Our clients have not authorised your use of the Bond marks and associated imagery and consider that your unauthorised use of its marks is without due care, and takes unfair advantage of and is detrimental to the distinctive character and repute of its marks and therefore infringes its registered rights."

This story can be found at 007 firm

[Kristatos]

This is like Disney suing a kindergarten in Florida for having a Mickey Mouse mural on its wall, or McDonalds suing those two vegetarians who stood outside one of their branches distributing anti-burger leaflets. Legally, they may be in the right. I don't know, I'm not a lawyer. But it's using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and the resultant bad publicity will probably do far more damage than simply turning a blind eye would.

[Mazer Rackham]

With all the problems MGM has this is just stupid. I always consider it more of a blackeye for the image of the corporation hassling these small time vendors.

[Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry]

I hope my company 007 Cookers Ltd does not receive a letter from Eon.

[FormerBondFan]

I hope my company 007 Cookers Ltd does not receive a letter from Eon.

So you have a company named after Bond?

[Omega]

They had to have known they were pushing it. Gambling they were too small to notice and it didn't work. It does give them all kinds of free publicity and make the Bond guys look like dicks.

[Kristatos]

I hope my company 007 Cookers Ltd does not receive a letter from Eon.

So you have a company named after Bond?

I think he was joking.