Marmalade appeals for free trade

One of the UK’s leading insurers of young drivers is appealing to the industry to support free trade by not trying to trademark key terms.

The insurer was forced to act after a member of its driving instructor membership group – Marmalade Network – was challenged over its use of the term ‘young driver’ by a company trying to trademark the term for their exclusive use.

The ‘young driver’ trademark had been applied for and was initially granted to Young Driver Training – a driving school based across the UK which offers driving lessons to young people under the age of 17.  Had they been successful in trademarking ‘young driver’ it would have effectively stopped all UK driving instructors from using the term.

Marmalade undertook a legal challenge and earlier this month (June), the application was withdrawn, permitting all driving instructors and those working with young drivers, to freely refer to their customers as ‘young drivers’.

Nick Moger, chairman of Marmalade, said, ‘We believe that trying to restrict use of these simple terms is detrimental to the whole of the industry and we ask everyone involved to avoid doing so.

‘I am absolutely thrilled our efforts and investment have benefitted driving instructors across the country and given them the freedom to describe and talk about their customers in a way that everyone understands.’