Karen Millen in namesake brand battle

Designer Karen Millen has taken legal action to get her name back. The Millen brand, which is majority owned by the Aurora Fashion Group (formerly Mosaic Fashions), saw its founder lose a 7% interest when the holding Icelandic bank, Kaupthing,

collapsed in 2008.

In an interview with the Guardian Millen stated: “In my opinion it is wrong that a bank can pretend to have money and security which it doesn’t have, generate a false balance sheet and use its own customers to fund acquisition ambitions. This is wrong and I am not going to rest until I have my company restored to me.”

Millen, who along with Kevin Stanford founded the Karen Millen label in 1983, wants to start trading again but will face the issue of trademark infringement.

Karen Millen, which is controlled by the administrator of the now defunct Icelandic bank Kaupthing which collapsed in 2008, own the rights to the Karen Millen brand name and has warned of trademark infringement if Millen returns to business under the brand name Karen or KM.

Millen and Stanford are pursuing a series of legal claims against the estate of Kaupthing bank and the sums sought are believed to exceed £500m.

Image: Karen Millen