Dan Atkinson stunned that footballer's wife can cash in on his Wagatha Christie gag

Dan Atkinson – the comedian who coined the phrase ‘Wagatha Christie’ – has admitted he was ‘dumbfounded’ to learn that footballer’s wife Rebekah Vardy has trademarked his joke.

The stand-up made the joke in a tweet when fellow Wag Coleen Rooney exposed Vardy as the woman leaking personal information to the press, by making Instagram posts only her rival could see. The saga led to an expensive high-court legal case that Rooney eventually won.

Coleen Rooney: WAGagtha Christie.

— Dan Atkinson (@Danatkinson) October 9, 2019

Now Vardy is trying to cash in on her notoriety by trademarking the term ‘Wagatha Christie’ for use across a range of products from drinks to jewellery, including pet blankets, electric mincers, electric mug-warmers and kettle descalers.

Writing in The Observer, Atkinson said: ‘I’m already preparing for the emotional torture of watching my throwaway gag mutate into a merchandising empire’.

But he added that his ‘stupefaction’ at the trademark being granted ‘was mixed with an unexpected admiration for the sheer chutzpah of Mrs Vardy: not only did she lose the court case, the joke wasn’t even about her’ - but Rooney.

‘I wasn’t even aware it was possible to trademark a joke,’ he added. ‘If jokes start getting bought up then British humour has a bleak future. Why did the chicken cross the road? I can’t tell you or I’ll lose my house.’

Atkinson said he has considered calling in the lawyers to claim back the phrase, but fears that it would be a tortuous, expensive and uncertain process to negotiate the legal grey area.

‘A lot of people have urged me to lawyer up and I understand why,’ he wrote. ‘They find it unfair that if you’re rich enough, you can buy up whatever you like whether it’s for sale or not. Frustratingly our legal system makes it hard for anyone without deep pockets to fight back.’

Graeme Murray, senior associate and trademark specialist at global intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk explained  that although Wagatha Christie was originally coined by Atkinson, 'he has never filed any applications to register it as a trademark, nor used it commercially in the UK' – which means he would be unlikely to have grounds to challenge Vardy's registration.

He added: 'The mere coining of a term such as Wagatha Christie does not result in copyright protection, given that copyright as a literary work does not result from short combinations of words such as this. Thus, on the face of it, he would have no basis to prevent Rebekah Vardy's use and registration of Wagatha Christie in the UK.’

The granting of the trademark has also caught the producers of the West End show Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial by surprise.

Eleanor Lloyd, the show’s creator, admitted: ‘We didn’t see it coming,’ but said she had concluded: ‘I can see no reason why I can’t go on without changing the name of the show.’

Vardy’s trademark, secured through the company London Entertainment Inc Ltd, does not appear to cover entertainment, but it does cover broadcasting.

Vardy was ordered to pay up to £1.5million of Rooney’s legal costs, as well as her own, after she failed to persuade the court she had been libelled when her fellow Wag revealed her to be the source of the leaks to the tabloids.

Published: 24 Apr 2023