Tyre shop still offside of rugby body
With the start of the Rugby World Cup 2011 less than a month away, the host country’s governing body would be well advised to avoid any negative publicity. However the New Zealand Rugby Union finds itself in the news again for its continuation of a trademark dispute. And, as you may have already suspected, tyres lie at the heart of the matter.
Towards the end of July, Tyres & Accessories reported the New Zealand Rugby Union had given Auckland-based tyre retailer All Black Tyres and Automotive Care an ultimatum to change its name and cease using a ‘silver fern’ logo on its signage and stationery. Although denying he’d infringed the rugby union’s trademarks, business owner Khaled Sophie complied and renamed the centre ‘All Season Tyres and Automotive Care’.
End of story? Er, no. Despite the switch to a decidedly non-rugby name, the New Zealand Rugby Union maintains its objection to the presence of a blue-coloured fern motif on the tyre shop’s signage. Despite being blue it is still a silver fern, the NZRU argues. The latest letter received from the rugby union’s lawyers states that the fern Sophie uses is considered “a clear copy of the same fern device registered by our client.” The letter also said the NZRU will end its legal proceedings if Sophie removes all ferns from the business’s signage and pay’s the rugby union’s legal fees, which are currently NZ$2,875 (£1,445)
Khaled Sophie says he has received words of support from many people since his story first made the news in July, however he holds little hope of emerging victorious from his current struggle. “As a small business man I don’t have the time to fight this and I don’t have the money,” he told local newspaper the Western Leader. The business owner must now surely be hoping no NZRU representatives take the time to actually visit his shop. If they do, a fresh round of legal threats may emerge when they discover that the tyres Sophie sells are All Black.
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