Last month, Britain’s Pobjoy Mint announced a change to the design of its recently issued “Britannia Rules the Waves” commemorative coin because of copyright infringement.
The one-crown pure silver coin, which was issued in June on behalf of the Falkland Islands, featured the phrase “Britannia Rules the Waves” on its reverse in honour of soldiers who gave their lives for the sovereignty of their country; however, according to Britain’s Intellectual Property Office, the term “BRITANNIA” is trademarked by the Royal Mint.
“We will be restarting production of these coins without the inscription for the remaining 42,671 of the issue limit,” reads a statement issued by Pobjoy after the infringement was discovered.
The coin’s obverse, which features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II, will remain the same.
The remainder of the mintage of 50,000 coins will be stripped of the ‘Britannia’ phrase (shown above).
FEWER THAN 7,500 COINS ISSUED
As production of the original design concludes, Pobjoy is now offering the same coin without the “Britannia Rules the Waves” phrase. A total of 7,329 coins of the original mintage of 50,000 were issued with the “Britannia” inscription. These original coins are expected to increase in value owing to the limited mintage.