Written question asked by Andrew George (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 21 June 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 28 June 2007. It was answered by Ben Bradshaw (Labour) on Thursday, 28 June 2007 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

VALPAK

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) whether his Department monitors how VALPAK uses its licence fee income from the use of the Green Dot trademark;

Answer: Currently, the Green Dot Licensing Company (a subsidiary of Valpak) is vested with the task of managing the Green Dot trademark in the UK. The Green Dot Licensing Company administers Green Dot licences in the UK on behalf of the licence-holder, Pro-Europe and this decision was made by Pro-Europe rather than the UK Government.Valpak, as part of the agreement with Pro-Europe, are required to manage the Green Dot registered trademark according to English trademark laws. This includes the policing of its use, granting ““User Agreements””‘, ensuring the integrity of the mark is protected and that it is not used in a misleading fashion or in derogation of its meaning in any way.Valpak operates the Green Dot Licensing Company on a non-profit making basis and charges a flat licence fee. The licence fee reflects Valpak’s operating costs and these will depend on the number of Green Dot users; the more users, the lower the fee. The costs are purely operating costs which will be charged back to those companies using the Green Dot logo.

Secondary information