Rebekah Vardy adds more fuel to bitter legal battle with Coleen Rooney by ‘applying to trademark “Wagatha”‘

Rebekah Vardy has added more fuel to her bitter legal battle with Coleen Rooney by applying to trademark the name ‘Wagatha’, it is claimed. 

The media personality, 41, registered the term Wagatha Christie six months ago, referring to the vicious showdown between the two WAGs. 

Rebekah took Coleen, 37, to the High Court for libel – and lost – after Coleen claimed in October 2019 that stories about her were being leaked to the Press from Rebekah’s social media account. 

The phrase Wagatha Christie was coined by comedian Dan Atkinson in 2019 and was trademarked eight months ago by London Entertainment Inc Ltd, which is the company of Rebekah’s friend Saphia Maxamed. 

Rebekah has now allegedly used London Entertainment to apply for the new trademark with the Intellectual Property Office on September 7, according to The Sun. 

Fight: Rebekah Vardy has added more fuel to her bitter legal battle with Coleen Rooney by applying to trademark the name ‘Wagatha’, it is claimed

Rivals: Rebekah took Coleen Rooney to the High Court for libel – and lost – last year

It comes as a fresh blow to Coleen, whose Disney+ docuseries docu-series The Real Wagatha Story is set to release on October 18.  

The trademark is said to seek coverage of areas such as toiletries, household goods, jewellery, drinks and TV shows. 

The wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy signed up to Saphia’s agency four years ago. 

Her Wagatha Christie trademark covers broadcasting, clothing, non-alcoholic beverages, education and beauty and she now has the right to approve its usage by others, and they will have to pay if she allows it. 

A source told The Sun during the previous application: ‘This trademark is Becky’s two fingers to Coleen and all the misery associated with “Wagatha Christie”. Becky is shrewd and knew people would try to cash in on the phrase.

‘She now owns the UK trademark and would consider expanding it to other territories if she thought it was needed. 

‘If someone wants to print the logo on a mug, for example, they would be infringing the trademark if they didn’t ask permission. It is a legal grey area in some respects, however, and will be done on a case-by-case basis.’

MailOnline has contacted Rebekah’s representative for comment.  

The row between Coleen and Rebekah has once again been reignited in recent weeks, as Coleen is set to tell her side of the drama-filled story in a Disney+ documentary dropping on October 18. 

Bitter: Rebekah Vardy, top, took Coleen Rooney, above, to the High Court for libel – and lost

Rebekah then took to Instagram to slam her rival.

After a fan accused her of being jealous of Coleen, Rebekah hit back: ‘Jealous of what exactly! Spare me the pain seriously… I wouldn’t put up with my husband sleeping with hookers end of! No excuses.’

During the High Court trial, Mrs Justice Steyn said in her judgment in July that it was ‘likely’ that Mrs Vardy’s agent Caroline Watt ‘undertook the direct act’ of passing on information to The Sun.

The judge said: ‘The evidence clearly shows in my view that Mrs Vardy knew of and condoned this behaviour, actively engaging in it.’

Rebekah was ordered to pay up to £1.5million towards Coleen’s legal fees after losing the case, but she still continues to insist she was not the culprit.

And in the documentary series, Vardy vs Rooney: The Wagatha Trial, Rebekah also claims that a mole is still leaking Rooney stories to The Sun – which she also says proves her innocence.

‘The irony is that since I was removed as a follower, stories have been coming thick and fast about the Rooneys,’ she said.

A friend of Rebekah’s said the WAG’s suspicions were sparked when a story in The Sun earlier this year, which suggested that Wayne Rooney would have a ‘chaperone’ when he was away from Coleen working in the US.

Where it began: In a tweet and on Instagram, Coleen said Rebekah’s account had leaked information about her. It triggered a wave of social media reaction and saw her dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’

Original: Comedian Dan Atkinson appears to have coined the phrase ‘Wagatha Christie’ – but spelt it incorrectly 

Mother-of-five Rebekah is on pugnacious form in the documentary, giving an interview dressed head to toe in black leather.

At one point she snaps that she has ‘zero tolerance for this bull****,’ adding: ‘I just find the whole thing really ****ing bizarre.’

She was on holiday in Dubai with her husband, Leicester striker Jamie Vardy, 36, when Coleen made the accusations on Twitter and Instagram about the leaks.

Rebekah said: ‘At the time I felt physically sick. I think it must have been the biggest panic attack. I was totally shocked. What to do next? That’s the million-dollar question.

‘I couldn’t understand why someone would do that. Why someone would do that knowing someone’s vulnerable, knowing the impact something like that is going to cause. It’s going to cause a s***-storm – a massive one – and that it did.’

Referring to a fake story about a flooded basement in Coleen’s new Cheshire mansion, Rebekah insisted: ‘The first time I read about the flooded basement was in the Daily Mail online. I love how I get blamed for that one, incredible.

‘If I had been selling stories, where are the messages saying “Give this to The Sun”? “Make sure I get paid for this”. Where are they? There aren’t any – because they don’t exist.’

The High Court imposed a punitive charge over legal fees, with Rebekah told to pay 90 per cent of Coleen’s costs.

This was in part because crucial evidence had been destroyed after Mrs Watt accidentally dropped her phone in the North Sea.

Rebekah with her barrister Hugh Tomlinson KC during the trial last May. Her trademark covers everything from broadcasting to clothing and non-alcoholic drinks

Coleen won an order for Rebekah to pay up to £1.5million towards her legal bills

Coleen’s legal team has not yet produced a final costs total, but the last figure presented to court was £1,667,860. If that remains unchanged, 90 per cent of that would be £1.5million.

Mrs Justice Steyn decided on 90 per cent, acknowledging there were certain issues that justified Coleen paying for some of the case, including her ‘weak’ allegation that Rebekah was one of the people behind The Sun’s ‘Secret Wag’ gossip column which had ‘added considerably’ to the work of Rebekah’s lawyers.

The total amount of Rebekah’s legal costs is not known, but is expected to be of a similar level to those incurred by Coleen.

The final figure may be reduced if Rebekah does not agree to pay the 90 per cent and a court later considers some costs unreasonable.

Wagatha Christie timeline: How Coleen and Rebekah’s war unfolded

September 2017 to October 2019 – The Sun runs a number of fake articles about Coleen, which she claimed she only shared with Vardy in a ‘sting’ operation, including that she travelled to Mexico to look into baby ‘gender selection’ treatment, her plan to revive her TV career and the flooding of her basement.

October 9, 2019 – Coleen uses social media to accuse Rebekah of selling stories from her private Instagram account to the tabloids. It prompts #WagathaChristie to start trending.

February 13, 2020 – In a tearful appearance on ITV’s Loose Women, Rebekah says the stress of the dispute caused her to have severe anxiety attacks and she ‘ended up in hospital three times’. 

June 23, 2020 – It emerges that Rebekah has launched libel proceedings against Coleen.

November 19-20, 2020 – The libel battle has its first High Court hearing in London. A judge rules that Coleen’s October 2019 post ‘clearly identified’ Rebekah as being ‘guilty of the serious and consistent breach of trust’.

Mr Justice Warby concludes that the ‘natural and ordinary’ meaning of the posts was that Rebekah had ‘regularly and frequently abused her status as a trusted follower of Coleen’s personal Instagram account by secretly informing The Sun of Coleen’s private posts and stories’.

February 8-9, 2022 – A series of explosive messages between Rebekah and her agent Caroline Watt – which Coleen’s lawyers allege were about her – are revealed at a preliminary court hearing.

Coleen’s lawyers seek further information from the WhatsApp messages, but the court is told that Ms Watt’s phone fell into the North Sea after a boat she was on hit a wave, before further information could be extracted from it.

February 14 – Coleen is refused permission to bring a High Court claim against Mrs Watt for misuse of private information to be heard alongside the libel battle. A High Court judge, Mrs Justice Steyn, says the bid was brought too late and previous opportunities to make the claim had not been taken.

April 13 – Mrs Watt is not fit to give oral evidence at the upcoming libel trial, the High Court is told, as the case returns for another hearing.

May 10 onwards – The trial gets under way.

July 29 – Rebekah loses her defamation case against Coleen, with the judge ruling that the accusation against her was ‘substantially true’.

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