Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas has today welcomed reports that Simon Cowell's company Simco has dropped its efforts to legally trademark the name of a local charity for use on The X Factor.

But the costly dispute has left Rhythmix a Brighton based charity which provides music making opportunities to young people across the South East, with a bill for £8,000 in legal fees.

And while some press reports (1) have claimed that Simco is "happy to withdraw the application for the trademark", Rhythmix has yet to receive any official confirmation from the company - while the application remains live on the OHIM trademark website (2).

Caroline has tabled an Early Day Motion calling for official confirmation that the trademark bid has been indeed been dropped without conditions, and for the company to reimburse the charity's legal fees as a gesture of goodwill.

She said: "Rather than trying to spin its way out of this dispute and hide behind its publicity team, Simco must now show clearly that it is officially dropping the bid to trademark the Rhythmix without any conditions.

"While the application remains active online and in the absence of a proper legal statement or any other formal communications from Simco, it is difficult for the charity to know where it stands.

"Furthermore, this costly action by Simco has caused Rhythmix to incur legal fees to the tune of £8,000 - a lot of money for a small organisation with limited funding. As a gesture of goodwill, Cowell's company should now reimburse the full costs and any further fees."

Mark Davyd, chief executive of Rhythmix, said: "We are delighted that Caroline Lucas has taken up this matter, and we hope that her voice adds to the pressure on Simco to simply do the right thing.

"In six weeks nobody at the show has been able to explain why they felt this was an appropriate thing to do, or why they haven't felt able to deal with it in a responsible way subsequently.

"£8,000 is three seconds of advertising on the X Factor or 120 hours of creative opportunities for vulnerable young people. We think it's time Simco came out and told the public which they think is more important."

ENDS

1) http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s103/the-x-factor/news/a350127/x-factor-simon-cowells-simco-drops-rhythmix-trademark-bid.html

2) http://esearch.oami.europa.eu/copla/trademark/data/010288843