The launch next week had been up in the air after NZ Rugby and the NRL went head-to-head in an increasingly fractious trademark dispute between the rival codes.<\/p>\n
NZ Rugby has been seeking to prevent the new Papua New Guinea NRL team from using the Chiefs name and branding, saying it would cause confusion with its Waikato-based Chiefs Super Rugby franchise.<\/p>\n
The NRL has accused NZ Rugby of hypocrisy, pointing to other cross-code teams that share the same brand names \u2013 such as rugby\u2019s Auckland-based Blues and the New South Wales Blues State of Origin team.<\/p>\n
While the PNG Chiefs team is not set to join the NRL until 2028, the NRL has been planning to launch its jersey and branding next Wednesday, coinciding with the Rugby League World Cup.<\/p>\n
In the Wellington High Court today, Clive Elliott, KC, acting for the NRL, said the launch would be held in Port Moresby, regardless of any interim injunction a court in New Zealand might impose.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe launch would go ahead. It\u2019s going ahead in PNG regardless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause it\u2019s in another country and under a different jurisdiction, the only way in which the courts in New Zealand can control it is the extent to which any information reaches New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said if NZ Rugby was so concerned about the Chiefs brand, it should have acted a lot more quickly when it first became aware of the NRL\u2019s plans for the new Chiefs team last year.<\/p>\n
Acting for NZ Rugby, lawyer Earl Gray said the NRL had \u201cthumbed their noses\u201d at New Zealand and local laws.<\/p>\n
He said the NRL was making \u201ca concerted but transparent attempt to reformulate the Chiefs brand as Gallagher Chiefs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Gallagher is the Chiefs rugby team\u2019s main sponsor.<\/p>\n
Chiefs fans at the Chiefs versus Crusaders Super Rugby semi-final in Hamilton earlier this year. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n
\u201cThe brand and trademark is, and has for 30 years, been Chiefs and without belittling the importance of their valuable sponsorship, sponsors are temporary, but the Chiefs brand is enduring. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis further attempt by the defendants to dilute the valuable Chiefs brand reinforces why New Zealand Rugby needs to be here today \u2013 to protect the exclusivity of the Chiefs brand so that it retains the ability to attract and retain the valuable sponsors and partners that are critical to its longevity against inevitable dilution and loss of exclusivity.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the NRL was trying to take the Chiefs name and brand by stealth.<\/p>\n
Justice Karen Grau. Photo \/ LinkedIn<\/p>\n
Justice Grau questioned NZ Rugby over its claims that fans might be confused between different Chiefs brands.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are interested in sport, and surely they know the difference between their rugby and their league. Are you saying they don\u2019t?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand this confusion. Are you saying somebody\u2019s going to buy the wrong T-shirt or buy a ticket for a league game when they want to buy a ticket to a rugby game?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gray said there might not be confusion over tickets, but \u201cthe T-shirts, very likely if they only think there\u2019s one Chiefs and they see another Chiefs\u201d. <\/p>\n
He argued that having \u201cPapua New Guinea\u201d or \u201cPNG\u201d before the Chiefs did not ease any concerns.<\/p>\n
He said all but one of the 17 NRL teams had a geographic name attached, but \u201cthey are constantly used without that, and that\u2019s the way it develops\u201d.<\/p>\n
He highlighted recent social media posts, referencing the Chiefs, without \u201cPNG\u201d or \u201cPapua New Guinea\u201d attached.<\/p>\n
Elliott, for the NRL, said sponsors and supporters would know the difference between rugby and rugby league. \u201cFans are not stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n
NZ Rugby had launched legal action on the mistaken assumption the launch of the jersey next week was going to \u201cchange the status quo when it\u2019s one step in a long process\u201d, Elliott said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a game-changer.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the perceived urgency was \u201creally an artifice\u201d NZR had used to \u201ctry and cover up for its own inaction\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said any dispute needed to be dealt with at a substantive hearing. \u201cWe are going to fight this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gray said the NRL was trying to say that next week\u2019s event was just an announcement, \u201cnothing to see here\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, it would inevitably be broadcast on social media and promoted through other activities, undermining the Chiefs rugby brand.<\/p>\n
He said the NRL had about 400,000 New Zealand followers on its Facebook page.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a substantial proportion of New Zealand\u2019s adult population and given the New Zealand public\u2019s sporting fascination generally \u2013 some would say obsession \u2013 it\u2019s inevitable there\u2019ll be significant overlap with that sort of number with New Zealand rugby and the rugby team Chiefs\u2019 followers.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said if the brand launch went ahead, \u201cour current unique and valuable exclusive brand profile and story in the Chiefs name would be hugely damaged or lost\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the introduction of a rival rugby league brand, it would be impossible to recover and rebuild the same meaning and value. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur precious relationship with fans and the public and with sponsors and licensees could never be the same again. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs the saying goes, it is impossible to reassemble a scrambled egg.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elliott said his clients did not accept there was a trademark infringement, and it was not correct to say the NRL was thumbing its nose.<\/p>\n
The NRL had agreed to geoblock from New Zealand Facebook posts about the PNG Chiefs.<\/p>\n
He said the NRL was a tournament run in Australia by an Australian entity that happened to have a New Zealand team and shortly, a PNG team.<\/p>\n
\u2018Significant confusion and damage\u2019<\/p>\n
Earlier, NZ Rugby said allowing the PNG Chiefs name into the Australian and New Zealand market \u201cwill cause significant confusion and damage\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 30 years, the Chiefs and their players have built an incredibly strong identity that is widely recognised and loved by fans,\u201d NZ Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have raised our concerns with the ARLC [Australian Rugby League Commission] directly and consistently over the last year in attempting to find a resolution. We now have a responsibility to protect the Chiefs brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to be absolutely clear, this is not about rugby league\u2019s growth in the Pacific. We welcome the development of the Pacific region through sport and the passion that the people of Papua New Guinea have for both rugby and rugby league.\u201d<\/p>\n
NZ Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
In a statement, Chiefs chief executive Simon Graafhuis said: \u201cTeams in different sports and markets can exist alongside one another with the same name, but the issue here is the similarity of our sports competing in the same market, for the same fans, in overlapping windows.\u201d<\/p>\n
NZ Rugby\u2019s moves have raised the ire of NRL boss Peter V\u2019landys.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NSW Blues have been around since the 1900s,\u201d the ARLC executive chairman told The Australian.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been using the Auckland Blues since the 1990s and never consulted us. They took our name, the Blues, and we were never concerned then they go ahead and do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we registered the Chiefs, they have acted with mind-blowing hypocrisy.\u201d<\/p>\n
ARLC executive chairman Peter V’landys. Photo \/ Photosport <\/p>\n
There are multiple professional sports teams using the Chiefs\u2019 names across the globe, including in sports that are televised in New Zealand. <\/p>\n
The best-known of these is the Kansas City Chiefs, who play in the NFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chiefs is a well-known sports brand. There is a lot of them. It\u2019s not just in New Zealand,\u201d V\u2019landys said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo [saying] they own the Chiefs name is a slur on every other sporting body that has had it before them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no doubt they are feeling the pressure of rugby league starting to take over in New Zealand. They should look at themselves before they start attacking others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The launch next week had been up in the air after NZ Rugby and the NRL went head-to-head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1040,17909,1349,2082,65838,2959,78,29185,2936,51084,3958,3331,1073,111,139,577,69,22049,6327,213,7187,61],"class_list":["post-632081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-bid","tag-chiefs","tag-court","tag-for","tag-halt","tag-high","tag-in","tag-injunction","tag-insider","tag-interim","tag-judge","tag-launch","tag-media","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nrl","tag-nz","tag-rejects","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}