In December, influencer Sara Emilie Tandberg was accused of plagiarism after she advertised the brand “Filiokus Kids”.
Now she is changing the brand name, but the creators behind “Filiokus Media” are not satisfied with the handling of the situation.
Married couple Marte Næss and Ole André Sivertsen are themselves the owners of the brand “Filiokus Media”, which was established in 2006.
Following the announcement of “Filiokus Kids”, the couple reacted particularly to the similarities between the brands’ names and logos, accusing the influencer of copying their brand.
Changing brand name
The chairman of Filiokus Kids, David Reme, admitted that there was a similarity between the logos, and could tell God kveld Norge that the company would develop a new logo.
During this year’s Vixen awards, the influencer appeared on the red carpet. See video below:
Furthermore, the chairman claimed that “Filiokus” was not a protected brand, and believed that they had the right to dispose of the name.
Despite this, Tandberg and Reme have now turned around – and “Filiokus Kids” has changed the brand name to “Salabim Kids”.
– Never was the intention
In a message to God kveld Norge, Tandberg writes that the company changed the name when they were made aware that “Filiokus” was already a Norwegian brand. She writes that the brand “Salabim Kids” is looking forward to creating products for children and young people.
– It has obviously never been the intention to look like someone else. We obviously want to stand as our own brand and not cause trouble for anyone, and can confirm that we have sorted ourselves out in between, writes Tandberg in the message.
However, owner of Filiokus Media, Marte Næss, believes that this is not true.
– Sara Emilie’s answer makes it sound like they immediately and completely voluntarily changed their name when they were made aware of our “Filiokus”. It is not true. “Filiokus Kids” only chose to change its name after we engaged a lawyer, who has handled the case for us.
REACT: The married couple behind Filiokus Media react to the situation that has arisen with the influencer’s company. Photo: Line Møller / VG
Næss says that she is happy that the other party has complied with the couple’s wish for the name change, but claims that it was a long process that only started after they engaged a lawyer on the case.
– We have never received any apology for the inconvenience we were caused, she claims.
– This means that we are still sitting with a bad taste in our mouths and are disappointed with the other party who has shown no willingness to apologize or make amends.
Under registration
To Good evening Norway, the chairman tells that they have stopped the company registration of “Filiokus Kids AS”, and have now targeted “Salabim AS”, which is being registered.
– The team has conjured up some fabulously good products and thus we have come to the conclusion that “Salabim” is a perfect name, writes Reme in an e-mail to Good evening Norway.
– We hope that “Filiokus Media” can also now concentrate on focusing on its great products and put the matter behind it, he says.
Furthermore, Reme claims that their company should have apologized to the couple, and says that they will look forward and consider the case closed from their side. Now they will focus on the further development of the brand.
– We would like to publicly apologize for the situation once again, and are happy that we have found a good solution for both parties.
Refers to the incident as a trampling
Næss and Sivertsen say that they are still dissatisfied with how the situation turned out.
They say that it has been absolutely necessary for them to stand up against what they refer to as a trampling.
– Hopefully we can put this behind us and focus on what we like to do – making books. The situation that we ended up in through no fault of our own has taken a lot of time and has been costly for us, just to defend ourselves against the carelessness of others.
When Sara Emilie became pregnant for the second time, she made a life-changing choice. See video below:
