Proceedings are due to be issued in the High Court
The leaflet the triggered the legal action
Nissan has announced it is taking legal action against the official campaign for Britain to leave the European Union after the group used the Japanese car manufactueres’ logo in leaflets calling for voters to back Brexit on June 23.
On one “Vote Leave” flyer, the firm’s logo appeared next to those of four other major companies including Unilever and fellow carmaker Vauxhall with the message: “Major employers … have all said they’ll stay in the UK whatever the result of the referendum.”
Nissan, which says it would prefer Britain to remain in the EU, said it would be issuing legal proceedings on Monday in Britain’s High Court to stop ‘Vote Leave’ from using its name and logo and to “prevent them making any further false statements and misrepresentations concerning Nissan.”
It comes after The Independent revealed three of the country’s largest employers had accused the official Leave campaign of “deliberately” attempting to “mislead” voters by using their logos on a taxpayer funded leaflet making the case for Brexit.
On Monday, several carmakers repeated their calls for Britain to remain in the 28-member bloc, with tariff-less access to the single market benefiting major firms.
In a letter to staff, Toyota’s UK managing director warned that leaving the bloc would impose duties on cars of up to 10 percent, forcing the firm to either make cuts or raise prices, negatively impacting sales.
In a furious letter to Boris Johnson’s Vote Leave campaign, heads of Unilever, Airbus and GE accuse the group of using their names for “propaganda purposes” to imply their support for exit from the European Union”.
Vote Leave has yet to comment on the announcement.
