A gardener who runs a small business in 'Eden' has won a victory against 'The Eden Project' 400 miles away - after it challenged her use of the name. Furious Susan Davies, 57, set up her company 'Gardens of Eden' six months ago and decided to trademark the name so no other businesses could use it.
She named the business after where she lives in Penrith, in the district of Eden, Cumbria, and thought she would have no issues. But the Eden Project in Bodelva, Cornwall, formally objected to Susan using the name for her business.
The company said it would only withdraw the objection if she agreed to sign a legally-binding document agreeing to a list of criteria. That included not using the word 'Eden' in any other trademark and not using her business name outside Cumbria.
She was also told she could never challenge the Eden Project's use of the word - despite them being based 400 miles from the attraction. Susan branded the action as "corporate bullying" - and has since won her battle after the Eden Project backed down.
She said: "I just think it's outrageous. They are basically accusing me of riding on their coats tails, and getting business because of association with them.
"The arrogance is just horrendous. I just didn't even think of the Eden Project when I chose the name for my business.
"I'm a gardener, who lives in Eden and I do gardens in Eden, so I thought that Gardens of Eden - which is a bit of a pun on the biblical reference - was a cracking name. It never occurred to me that anyone would confuse it with the Eden Project, there's lots of businesses and places that have Eden in the title."
The Eden Project are currently building a new £125m project in nearby Morecambe, Lancashire, just 52 miles from Susan's hometown. Susan believes that is why they are so angry about her business name.
The ex-NHS worker added: "I think that this is because they are trying to brand themselves as a global brand. They are also setting up new Eden Projects, both within this country and abroad, so I think they want to be a global brand and claim that word for themselves.
"It's just not on really - they are manipulating the language for their own corporate purposes. If you say Eden to people it means numerous things, it doesn't just mean the Eden Project.
"But they want to manipulate it so it means their business and nothing else."
The Eden Project has now withdrawn its opposition to Susan's trademark application after her concerns were publicly raised. A spokesman said: "As part of a usual monitoring of applications with similarity to our registered trade marks, we have been in correspondence with Susan in relation to her trade mark application.
"Having reviewed Susan’s application further and listened to her concerns, we are happy to withdraw our opposition to the trade mark application to use the name Gardens of Eden. We wish her and her business well for the future."
