Iceland vs Iceland hits the headlines this morning as the country takes legal action against the frozen supermarket. The Icelandic government has taken legal action against Iceland Foods in a dispute over a trademark, as relations between the nation and grocer show little sign of thawing, The Financial Times writes. The Times calls the dispute the “new cold war” as relations between Iceland the supermarket and Iceland the country are in “a deep freeze” after the government of the island said it was suing the retailer over its name. The move follows complaints from Icelandic businesses that they are being held back from promoting their goods and services in Europe because the retailer has trademarked the name “Iceland”.

Iceland Foods had “aggressively pursued and won multiple cases against Icelandic companies which use ‘Iceland’ in their representation or as part of their trademark, even in cases when the products and services do not compete,” Iceland’s ministry for foreign affairs said (The Guardian). The Telegraph writes that the supermarket owns the Europe-wide trademark registration for the word “Iceland”, but the Icelandic government said that this is “exceptionally broad and ambiguous in definition, often rendering the country’s firms unable to describe their products as Icelandic”.

Lidl will be the first supermarket group to raise its minimum pay to the level set by the Living Wage Foundation in a boost for thousands of workers (The Times). The German discounter said that from March it would pay all Lidl UK workers a minimum of £8.45 an hour in England, Scotland and Wales and £9.75 an hour in London, making staff among the best-paid supermarket employees in Britain. The Mail says it will pile further pressure on supermarket rivals, which in some areas have struggled to recruit because Lidl pays so well.

The Aldi family are “at war” over a £15bn stake in the discount supermarket empire, according to The Mail. “The owner of Aldi supermarkets was not capable of making rational decisions in the time leading up to his death, a court heard”, the paper writes.

Tesco will have phased out microbeads from all its own brand cosmetics and household cleaning products within a month, after the government recently said personal care products containing these tiny pieces of plastic will be banned from sale by the end of 2017 (The Guardian).

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