King Charles\u2019s personal shirtmaker. The world\u2019s oldest hatters, who designed fitments for Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s coronation crown and boast fans including Winston Churchill. A luxury sports brand with a \u201cspy-ready\u201d ski-suit.<\/p>\n
Has James Bond<\/a> assembled a crack team that can successfully take on his latest adversary?<\/p>\n Lawyers representing Danjaq, the US company that controls the rights to worldwide James Bond merchandising in conjunction with the UK company Eon Productions, have filed evidence running to 227 pages as it battles to retain control of the superspy\u2019s name across Europe.<\/p>\n In February, the Guardian revealed<\/a> that a Dubai-based property developer had filed claims in the UK and EU arguing that lack of use meant various protections had lapsed around James Bond\u2019s intellectual property, including his name, his 007 assignation and the catchphrase \u201cBond, James Bond\u201d.<\/p>\n Nearly all nine of the trademarks being challenged relate to the merchandising of goods and services under the Bond name, which can be challenged after five years of \u201cnon-use\u201d.<\/p>\n Josef Kleindienst, an Austrian who is building a $5bn (\u00a33.7bn) luxury resort complex<\/a> called the Heart of Europe on six artificial islands off Dubai, has argued that the trademarks have been commercially underexploited<\/a>.<\/p>\n Boehmert & Boehmert, one of the largest intellectual property (IP) law firms in Europe, representing Danjaq, has hit back, filing evidence to the European trademark office from a who\u2019s who of high-end partners still using the Bond name.<\/p>\n The filing starts with the 140-year-old Jermyn Street tailor, Turnbull & Asser, which describes itself as the \u201cdefinitive British shirtmaker\u201d and created shirts for Sean Connery in the first Bond film<\/a>, 1962\u2019s Dr No, continuing to do so since for Bond actors including Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.<\/p>\n The firm is the personal shirtmaker to the king, who bestowed the company with his first royal warrant when, as the Prince of Wales, he was given the power to do so in 1980.<\/p>\n Lock & Co Hatters in London\u2019s St James\u2019s Street, which has existed since 1676, features in the evidence file. Photograph: Alicia Canter\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Turnbull & Asser created the shirt Charles wore on his coronation day in 2023<\/a>, and a year later he renewed its royal warrant.<\/p>\n The evidence file also features Lock & Co, the world\u2019s oldest hatters with roots dating to 1676, whose heritage includes being responsible for fitting out first world war soldiers in their now familiar \u201cMark 1\u201d tin helmets before being deployed overseas.<\/p>\n The company, based in London\u2019s St James\u2019s Street, started its Bond relationship with one of its hats appearing in the now famous opening credit gun barrel scene in 1960\u2019s Dr No<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lock & Co was also behind henchman Odd Job\u2019s famous lethal Coker<\/a>, or bowler hat, in 1964\u2019s Goldfinger.<\/p>\n Bond fans can pay \u00a3537 for the James felt trilby, Dr No edition<\/a> while women might take to the \u00a3662 Vesper,<\/a> originally created for Eva Green to wear as Vesper Lynd in 2006\u2019s Casino Royale.<\/p>\n \u201cIn cases such as this the brand owner should respond by providing a robust package of evidence, assuming they are able to do so,\u201d said Mark Caddle, partner and trademark lawyer at the European IP firm Withers & Rogers. \u201cCommercial use is often shown by sales figures and a selection of invoices to support them, as well as by evidence of marketing and communications activity, such as brochures, online advertising, physical advertising and social media posts.\u201d<\/p>\n Commercial information has also been provided for the luxury sports lifestyle brand Bognor.<\/p>\n Willie Bognor Jr, who took over running the company founded by his father in 1932, has been credited for creating the world\u2019s first action skiing scenes for 1969\u2019s On Her Majesty\u2019s Secret Service.<\/a><\/p>\n He went on to create alpine scenes for Bond productions including The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only and A View to a Kill.<\/p>\n Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die. Product information is provided by a luxury seller of No Time to Die combat trousers. Photograph: Pictorial Press\/Alamy<\/p>\n Last year, the company launched its \u201cspy-ready\u201d ski range \u2013 the Bognor X 007 collection \u2013 with products priced from $290 to $2,300<\/a> (about \u00a3205 to \u00a31,700).<\/p>\n There is also product and commercial information from luxury cashmere and accessories brand N.Peal, founded in 1936 with a flagship store in London\u2019s Burlington arcade, which stocks a modern take on Bond, including a pair of \u00a3245 No Time to Die combat trousers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Boehmert & Boehmert has called the trademark action an \u201cunprecedented assault\u201d<\/a> on the multibillion-pound global franchise.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will file evidence of use for each trademark,\u201d said Rudolf B\u00f6ckenholt, at Boehmert & Boehmert, in a defence filing. \u201cConsidering the number of goods\/services at issue for each trademark, this will be a submission considerable in length and size, including numerous attachments and exhibits.\u201d<\/p>\n Kleindienst has extended his attempt to try to take control of the spy\u2019s various brands by also submitting his own trademark for James Bond in Europe. He has not, however, done the same in the UK.<\/p>\n The developer has said that he has launched the trademark action because he is concerned about the commercial future of the spy franchise, arguing that Bond \u201cwill not die\u201d on his watch<\/a>.<\/p>\n Daniel Craig\u2019s last outing as 007, in No Time to Die<\/a>, was released in 2021. With no announcement yet of his replacement or timeline for production of the next film, the franchise is on track to beat the previous longest gap between instalments of six years and four months.<\/p>\n Danjaq also co-owns the copyright to the existing Bond films, along with MGM Studios, which was acquired by Amazon for $8.5bn in 2021<\/a>. Days after the report of Kleindienst\u2019s legal challenges, it emerged that Amazon had paid more than $1bn to gain full \u201ccreative control\u201d<\/a> of the franchise from Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the longtime stewards of the Bond films.<\/p>\n With creative control, Amazon now has the power to move forward with new films and potentially TV spin-offs, without approval from the two British-American heirs to the film producer Albert \u201cCubby\u201d Broccoli, who had overseen the integrity of the character originally created in 1953 by the author Ian Fleming.<\/p>\n Denis Villeneuve, the man behind the Dune franchise, is directing the next Bond film. And Steven Knight, who is the co-creator of the gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and penned Peaky Blinders, has reportedly been brought on board to write the next 007 outing<\/a>.<\/p>\n