The Vikings: explorers, warriors and forerunners of brand protection

By Odin, we didn’t see that coming!

The Vikings were known as relentless explorers, travelling from their native Scandinavia to America, via present-day Ukraine and Constantinople.

They were also known more negatively for sacking European cities during the Middle Age.

But who would have thought that they could be the originators of the embryo of trademark law?

And yet, during the Viking period (between the 8th and 11th centuries), in Scandinavia as elsewhere, trade between people, cities, regions and countries was already highly developed.

As it has always been the case, and still is the case today, contemporaries sought to acquire quality products.

While in our imagination this often applies to fabrics, tableware and other decorative items, in the case of Viking warriors, this quest for quality also and above all applied to weapons (swords, axes, shields, etc.).

As in any trade, some blacksmiths were particularly renowned for their expertise and the quality of their work, making their products highly sought-after.

And what’s the best way to promote your products and your work beyond your own region? The brand, of course!

Indeed, among the weapons found after numerous excavations, it became apparent that some of them bore the same mark, that of the blacksmith who had made them.

Take the mark below, for example:

While the term ‘ULFBERHT’, used here, refers to the sword itself, the presence of the crosses framing the term and the other markings reproduced above can be identified as the trademark indicating the origin of the product.

There are some similarities here with our stone-cutters on the cathedral sites, who each used a different mark to identify the stones they had carved, enabling them to be paid according to the work they had done.

Now you know where to get good Viking weapons, but watch out for counterfeits – Loki’s tricks are never far away!

– Philippe BOHLAND, Trademark Attorney and Partner at Mark & Law