Following the loss of the naming rights to his OzEmite yeast spread last month, entrepreneur Dick Smith has announced that he will now appeal the decision.
“We got some very good advice from a barrister who’s an expert in this field. He thought not only would we be able to prevent him from striking out our name but we’d have a very good case of having his name removed because he pinched ours,” Smith told Mumbrella.
Intellectual Property Australia ruled in February that Smith’s OzEmite product sounds too similar to another yeast spread, AussieMite – the founder of which, Rodger Ramsay, commenced legal proceedings in 2011.
At the time of the ruling, Smith said he ‘probably’ wouldn’t appeal the decision, however an ensuing spate of public support encouraged him to reconsider.
“So many people wrote to me and said Dick, under no circumstances should you give in to this dishonesty when Ramsey’s clearly stolen your name,” Smith told Mumbrella.
“It won’t impact on our charity donations. We’ll raise the money to fund the case separately. A tremendous amount of people have volunteered to put in money.”
Ramsay said that he was disappointed to learn that Smith has chosen to challenge the decision. “We’ve come this far,” he stated. “We’re at the point of no return. The rules are in Australia it’s first to shelf, not the first to register a trademark for who has the rights to that name.”
Smith registered the OzEmite trademark back in October 1999 with the product officially launching mid last year, while on the other side, the Ramsey’s registered the Aussie Mite trademark 18 months later than Smith in May 2001, however their product hit shelves 12 years earlier than OzEmite with a launch date of May 2000.
According to Smith’s lawyers; Johnson, Winter & Slattery, the case will most likely be heard later in the year.