Tesco braves legal minefield to launch discount store Jack’s

TESCO is poised to launch a string of discount retail stores called Jack’s – but it will be operating for a whole month without watertight protection over its trademark.

More than 15 complaints have already been registered in both the UK and the EU against the name and, separately, the brand’s red logo. Lawyers said anyone who thinks the new logo is similar to their own has until October 17 to file a complaint at the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.

It means the discount chain will be trading for four weeks during which the legal position over its trademark will be wide open to new complaints – which one trademark source described as ‘absolute madness’.

The supermarket giant decided to go ahead with its launch plans despite the challenges to its name.

The first branch opening is expected this week in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, and this could be followed by 60 more in the next few months.

The Jack’s chain is expected to be a rival to German discounters Aldi and Lidl, which have proved to be stiff competition to British supermarkets.

The name is a salute to the Tesco founder Jack Cohen who launched the group in 1924. The company appears to have gone to extreme lengths to keep the name a secret. It is believed to have first registered the trademark in Sri Lanka in June 2017 – which one lawyer said would make it ‘much harder’ to find.

That added to the protection when it finally registered in the UK last December and the EU in April using an obscure subsidiary known as PTLL.

But a delay in the EU application process appears to have led to a slip-up over dates.

Sarah Redmond, trademark director at Fox Williams, said: ‘Their logo is still open to objections for another month so further oppositions could be filed against this application.’