As many of our members have noticed, Mattias Karlsson, member of the Swedish parliament for the party Sverigedemokraterna, is starting a political think tank with the name "Oikos". This is unfortunate, because it might lead to misunderstandings, and limits future use of our organization’s name in a new context. I just want to share with all members how I am dealing with this situation.
First, I have checked with juridical expertise our legal rights to protect our name. I have also checked that today no new company with the name Oikos has been registered at Bolagsverket or Skatteverket. There is thus formally nothing we can do at this stage. However, we will continue to follow this process since a political think tank and a scientific society have many similarities in their activities, such as organizing meetings, publishing journals, and communicating information to the general public. My opinion (after consulting experts) is that if someone should try to register a new company with the name Oikos, we and the journal Oikos have a formal right to try to stop a think tank from using the name Oikos, but also realize that this could be interpreted differently by others.
My current strategy to deal with this is to try to get in contact with Mattias Karlsson, and attempt to convince him to choose a different name for his think tank. I have so far sent two emails and tried to phone, but not succeeded in getting in contact yet. I honestly hope that the new think tank would realize that the names and activities of the two organizations are too similar to be optimal for either of the two organizations. My plan is to continue the efforts to get in contact with him and solve this through a friendly dialog. Further actions will be decided based on the outcome of these friendly requests.
If you have any thoughts about this situation or how we are handling it, please email me directly on: johan.olofsson@umu.se. All these emails will be considered and discussed with the rest of the board.
Johan Olofsson
President of the Swedish Oikos Society
