{"id":888188,"date":"2026-09-11T13:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888188\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T13:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T13:44:10","slug":"png-chiefs-identity-at-risk-as-nz-rugby-threaten-nrl-legal-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888188\/","title":{"rendered":"PNG Chiefs’ identity at risk as NZ Rugby threaten NRL legal action"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL has been warned it could be dragged to court by New Zealand<\/a> Rugby unless new franchise PNG Chiefs\u2019 name is changed, reports Down Under have revealed.<\/p>\n

Becoming the premier competition Down Under\u2019s 19th club, the Chiefs are set to enter the NRL at the start of the 2028 season.<\/p>\n

Inaugural head coach Willie Peters will soon depart Super League outfit Hull KR and head to Papua New Guinea as preparations for that \u201928 NRL entry ramp up.<\/p>\n

And next month, the club\u2019s badge was set to be unveiled at a special event in Port Moresby alongside their\u00a0first kit .<\/p>\n

But an escalating trademark dispute with union outfit NZ Rugby, who own the \u2018Chiefs Super Rugby Pacific\u2019 franchise, threatens to detail that unveiling.<\/p>\n

PNG Chiefs\u2019 identity at risk as NZ Rugby threaten NRL with legal action<\/p>\n

The Sydney Morning Herald<\/a> (SMH) have revealed NZ Rugby wrote to the NRL earlier this week insisting that \u2018the Chiefs\u2019 was not an acceptable name for the new franchise.<\/p>\n

If the NRL press ahead with the name, NZ Rugby have indicated their intent to defend their position in court.<\/p>\n

In the SMH\u2019s report, a NZ Rugby spokesperson said: \u201cThe Chiefs have been a professional rugby club since 1996 and has an established identity and fan base, both in the Pacific region and globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 30-year identity includes the Chiefs name, logo and distinctive colours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Super Rugby Chiefs, who play in the 15-a-side code are based in Hamilton and wear black, red and yellow.<\/p>\n

Those colours, of course, are also associated with sides based in PNG owing to the nation\u2019s flag: and are already being used across the PNG Chiefs\u2019 social media channels \u2013 with the expectation they will be heavily involved in the new franchise\u2019s make-up.<\/p>\n

When they enter the NRL, the PNG Chiefs are set to play their away games in Auckland and could potentially play in Hamilton by the time 2029 rolls around if a second New Zealand-based side enter the premier league competition as is hoped.<\/p>\n

NZ Rugby have claimed the NRL\u2019s use of the name for the franchise infringes their long-standing Chiefs trademarks, which exist in both New Zealand and Australia.<\/p>\n

The SMH report also confirms that NZ Rugy have sought additional protection for the Chiefs word mark with IP (Intellectual Property) Australia.<\/p>\n

The NRL declined to comment in the report, but confirmation has been received that their own trademark application for the PNG Chiefs has been held up by this ongoing dispute with NZ Rugby \u2013 having been submitted last October.<\/p>\n

Among the NRL\u2019s counter-arguments in the dispute is that other sporting teams called \u2018the Chiefs\u2019 means there can be little risk of confusion \u2013 with the Australian competition\u2019s lawyers citing examples including the Kansas City Chiefs, Exeter Chiefs, Kaizer Chiefs, Atlanta Chiefs and Syracuse Chiefs.<\/p>\n

That argument however was rejected by IP Australia, determining the New Zealand Chiefs did not have a geographical identifier and that there remained \u2018a reasonable chance\u2019 consumers unfamiliar with one or both teams could believe they were the same organisation.<\/p>\n

A major headache remains ongoing for the NRL now.<\/p>\n

They will need to either fight to retain a name which has been endorsed by those at the highest level in PNG \u2013 including Prime Minister James Marape \u2013 or find a new identity for the franchise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NRL has been warned it could be dragged to court by New Zealand Rugby unless new franchise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-888188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}