Greta Thunberg is filing for a trademark to prevent people and companies from misusing her name
Climate activist Greta Thunberg is taking matters into her own hands by applying for a trademark for her name and the Fridays For Future climate crisis movement she created.
The 17-year-old said her “name and the #FridaysForFuture movement are constantly being used for commercial purposes without any consent whatsoever,” according to an Instagram post Wednesday.
Thunberg’s environmental activism gained recognition worldwide when she started a school strike for the climate outside Swedish parliament in August 2018.
By filing for a trademark, something Thunberg said she had no prior interest in doing, she intends to protect her movement and its activities.
With her trademark, she wrote that she plans on taking the necessary legal action against people or corporations that try to use her name and the Fridays For Future name for causes that don’t align with what the global movement stands for.
The teenager said this has happened in marketing with products being sold and people collecting money in her and the movement’s name.
“Fridays For Future is a global movement founded by me,” she wrote. “It belongs to anyone taking part in it, above all the young people. It can — and must — not be used for individual or commercial purposes.”
Thunberg also intends to get a trademark for “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (School Strike for Climate), the phrase written on the sign that jump-started her activism.