An estate agent is facing shelling out thousands re-branding after the new owners of Battersea Power Station demanded he stop using the iconic building's image.

Christian Walker, 39, established Urban Lettings, Falcon Road, Battersea ten years ago and adopted the silhouette of the Grade II listed building as part of his logo to emphasise his local credentials.

Having used the image for a decade, he was shocked to receive a lawyer's letter last month demanding he immediately remove it or face legal action.

The letter, from HGF Law, stated Battersea Project Land Company Limited (BPLC), the company currently redeveloping the site, states the image of the building is "protected intellectual property" and a registered trademark.

It goes on to state use of the image by Urban Lettings "constitutes a mis-representation that your lettings service are linked or emanating from BPLC and such use damages and detracts from BPLC's reputation and goodwill."

Mr Walker said: "I have got no choice. People recognise us as a local company and the power station is a fantastic symbol of this area.

"Now I'm going to have to change my signs, websites, letterheads it is a real shame."

The father of two admits he should have copyrighted his logo before and believes he has no option but to comply with the lawyer's letter.

He said: "If I'm honest I probably should have got it copyrighted years ago but I just didn't expect there to be a problem."

A spokesman for BPLC said: "Both Battersea Power Station and Urban Lettings operate in the same part of London and for both the nature of business is property.

"Therefore to avoid any confusion between the two organisations we have asked Urban Lettings to refrain from using the Battersea Power Station image as their company logo.

"As the Battersea Power Station image is a registered trademark this is a reasonable request which will help people distinguish between the work Urban Lettings is engaged in, and the work taking place at Battersea Power Station."

 

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