{"id":929969,"date":"2026-10-16T06:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T06:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929969\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T06:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T06:56:15","slug":"new-zealand-rugby-vs-nrl-2026-news-court-case-updates-png-chiefs-logo-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929969\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand Rugby vs NRL 2026 news: Court case updates PNG Chiefs logo dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand Rugby<\/a> has lost its bid to have an interim injunction applied to the use of the Chiefs<\/a> name and brand in its high-stakes battle with the NRL.<\/a><\/p>\n

Justice Karen Grau declined the interim injunction in a major setback for NZ Rugby in the High Court at Wellington on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Chiefs fans in New Zealand are very passionate about their rugby team.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Justice Grau is likely to publish her full judgment on Monday.<\/p>\n

A full hearing on NZR\u2019s case against the NRL is still on the cards at a later date, but the PNG Chiefs\u2019<\/a> official launch will take place next Wednesday with NRL bosses celebrating a legal victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve brought this issue on themselves and inexplicably, now want to get away with it,\u201d NZ Rugby\u2019s barrister Earl Gray said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t search, they didn\u2019t check. They\u2019ve thumbed their noses at New Zealand and its laws.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRL argued that it would be \u201cnext to impossible to rebrand at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this environment, there is a real potential for this club to be set back irreparably,\u201d NRL barrister Clive Elliott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is this cloud having over this new team, people are going to say, \u2018Why would I move to Port Moresby when it\u2019s under threat\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

NZR said their position had not changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo teams called the Chiefs, playing similar codes in the same commercial markets, is likely to cause confusion. NZR remains firmly of the view that the Chiefs name cannot be used in New Zealand without infringing protections that have been in place since 1998,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

NZR chief executive Steve Lancaster said the organisation would not back down.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s decision is not a judgment on the strength of our case, and the matter will still be heard in full. As the trademark holder, our responsibility to protect the Chiefs brand hasn\u2019t changed. We remain open to working with the ARLC on a solution,\u201d Lancaster said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster says \u201cwe now have a responsibility to protect the Chiefs brand\u201d.\u202f\u202f\u202f\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Chiefs chairman Errol Brain was also quoted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving literally bled for this club as a player and captain, I feel an even greater responsibility today to protect its brand and legacy,\u201d Brain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe owe that to those who have gone before us, and to the players, coaches, staff, and fans who are part of this great club today and those who will become part of it in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PNG Chiefs also issued a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PNG Chiefs welcome today\u2019s decision in the New Zealand High Court and look forward to the launch of our inaugural logo and supporter jersey in Port Moresby on Wednesday, October 21,\u201d PNG Chiefs CEO Lorna McPherson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the matter remains before the court, no further comment on this matter will be provided at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand Rugby has lost its bid to have an interim injunction applied to the use of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-929969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929969","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=929969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}