Mid-sized firm Lewis Silkin is acting for Nissan as the vehicle giant brings an action to the High Court today (20 June) against Vote Leave, after the out campaign group used Nissan’s logo in a leaflet.
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The offending leaflet features Nissan’s logo next to those of four other major companies which include Unilever and Vauxhall, and says: “Major employers have all said they’ll stay in the United Kingdom whatever the result of the referendum”. In other words, Nissan is not suing the “Vote Leave” campaign for its intentions, but for the way it used the trademarked logo and brand image.
The statement noted that permission to use Nissan’s name and logo was not requested, and added: “If it was, it would not have been granted”.
The legal challenge comes after furious company chiefs at Unilever, Airbus and GE also threatened legal action over logo use.
“Vote Leave” did not comment immediately when contacted by Reuters.
Nissan is not happy with the unauthorized use of its logo on one of the leaflets concerning Brexit. Furthermore, use of the Nissan name and logo by the Vote Leave campaign in their materials grossly misrepresents our widely circulated and publicly stated position announced on 23rd February 2016.
In a statement released earlier this year, Nissan’s chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said: “Our preference as a business is, of course, that the United Kingdom stays within Europe; it makes the most sense for jobs, trade and costs”.
The carmaker said it is not supporting any political campaign in the run up to the 23 June referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union, adding it was a matter for the British voting public.
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On Monday, several carmakers repeated their calls for Britain to remain in the 28-member bloc, with tariff-less access to the single market benefiting major firms.
