Wagatha Christie Trademark: Footballers' Wives In Bad Faith?

• Published date: 09 June 2023
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trademark, Libel & Defamation
• Law Firm: Novagraaf Group
• Author: Mr Luke Portnow

Theatre shows have been making headlines again in the field of UK trademark enforcement...

We recently reported on the successful action by the creators of British TV show Only Falls and Horses. Here, the UK Intellectual Property Enterprise Court held, for the first time, that a fictional character can be an independent copyright work.

From the gritty streets of 1980s Peckham of that TV show, we are now quickly transported to the tabloid glitz and glamour of 'WAGS', a term which refers to the wives and girlfriends of English football players.

Libel case

Followers of 'WAG' celebrity news were last year hooked on a libel dispute between Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney. Rooney was successful in her suit, accusing Vardy of leaking posts from her private Instagram account, to the British newspaper The Sun.

The 'WAG' and IP worlds then collided very recently in relation to a London West End show which dramatises the story of the libel court case drama. Following its launch, it was announced by Vardy that she had successfully registered WAGATHA CHRISTIE as a UK trademark, held in the name of a media company owned by a friend. The theatre production is called Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial and the producers were then reportedly considering a change of name in light of this.

For those unfamiliar with the world of 'WAG' celebrity, WAGATHA CHRISTIE was used daily in news reports on the libel case, and it is a clever mark, combining the 'WAG' term with the famous author. However, the phrase itself was allegedly coined not by Vardy but a comedian in a Tweet dating back to October 2019. The term is too short for copyright protection and so Vardy has the monopoly.

Having lost the libel suit, Vardy has (for now) control over the term used to report on the courtroom antics she was part of, with the registration covering a vast array of goods and services, but importantly here, 'publishing of scripts for theatrical use'.

Trademark in bad faith?

In a recent twist, the theatre...