Er, what does it mean that Rebekah Vardy trademarked ‘Wagatha Christie’?

On I’m A Celebrity last night, Coleen Rooney opened up to her new fanclub of campmates about how her legal battles with Rebekah Vardy were her “worst nightmare”. The world watched with bated breath. One really rogue detail which came up was about who owns the trademark for “Wagatha Christie”.

The Radio 1 DJ McCullough asked, “Who owns that term?”. Jane Moore said, “she does”, seemingly referring to Rebekah Vardy.

Coleen joked, “She might be after you now!”

So, who owns “that term” aka the phrase “Wagatha Christie”? What does owning a term even mean? Are Ant and Dec allowed to say “Wagatha Christie” on I’m A Celebrity? We shall explain all.

What does ‘trademark’ even mean?

Coleen Rooney spilling the tea to her new fan club
(Image via ITV)

Let me embrace my inner Elle Woods for a moment. So, in the UK, a trademark is covered by the 1994 Trade Marks Act, which was last amended in 2023. Someone can register to trademark specific words, logos or sounds – but they must meet certain criteria. The point is to distinguish your product or service from other people’s, and to prevent consumers from confiding your products with someone else’s. So, other people then can’t add your trademark to their business. The whole process costs a minimum of £170. You have to renew it every ten years.

Who owns the trademark for ‘Wagatha Christie’?

…Rebekah Vardy’s account.  You don’t need to have come up with the phrase in order to trademark it. The comedian Dan Atikinson actually claims he first came up with the pun.

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According to the BBC, Rebekah Vardy applied through the company London Entertainment Inc Ltd to trademark the term “Wagatha Christie” back in August 2022 – a month after the trial with Coleen Rooney wrapped up, and Rebekah Vardy was ordered to pay Coleen about £1.5 million in legal fees. The phrase was officially trademarked in April 2023. The trademark covers broadcasting, jewellery, beauty products, drinks, stationery and fashion design.

However, Rebekah Vardy can’t use the phrase “Wagatha Christie” on some household items, because the company Christy objected to that part of the application.

So, can Ant and Dec say ‘Wagatha Christie’ on I’m A Celebrity?

Sort of? Ant and Dec joked on the show that they had to be careful about saying “Wagatha Christie” so they didn’t have to transfer money into “… Rebekah Vardy’s account”. But they probably would have been fine to refer to Coleen Rooney as Wagatha Christie.

According to intellectual property lawyers at the company Serjeants, Rebekah Vardy only gets money when the term has to be used “as a badge of commercial origin that could confuse the public as to the source of goods or services” in a way that “suggests it is a brand or commercial identifier, rather than simply a reference”.

We shall see how many ‘Wagatha Christie’ jokes Ant and Dec will make without actually saying it over the next three weeks of our lives
(Image via ITV)

The phrase “Wagatha Christie” is so obviously associated with Coleen Rooney that any idiot who saw Ant and Dec call her “Wagatha Christie” would know they were using the nickname to refer to her, and wouldn’t think Ant and Dec were talking about a commercial product. But ITV should probably be careful about using the phrase “Wagatha Christie” in a commercial way to sell products.

In the first episode, Dean McCullough ran across the beach towards Coleen Rooney and yelled, “Wagatha Christie, you’re coming with me.” That’s fine, because the term is obviously being used as a nickname for her. But ITV couldn’t, say, release a line of I’m A Celebrity tee-shirts with “Wagatha Christie” written all over them.

Featured images via ITV