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HISTORY
Aussies reclaim the ugg boot
(Artical featured on http://www.news.com.au)
From: AAP
By Alyssa Braithwaite
January 17, 2006
AUSTRALIAN manufacturers of sheepskin boots have won back the right to call their shoes uggs. The name "ugg"or "ugh" for the popular sheepskin boots, which have been sold and worn in Australia for decades, was registered as a trademark in the early 70s and bought by American company Deckers in 1995.
As the fleecy boot became a fashion must have in recent years, seen on the likes of Kate Moss and Pamela Anderson, Deckers successfully took legal action in 2003 to prevent local companies using the name ugg.
Angry small Australian ugg boot makers banded together to try to legally snatch back the ugg name, which originated in Australia in the late 1960s as a short form term for ugly.
Perth retailers Bronwyn and Bruce McDougall lodged applications with the government trademark regulator, IP Australia, in December 2003, attempting to reclaim the term "ugh-boots" from Deckers.
This week, the McDougalls received the news that the name is to be removed from the Australian register of trademarks, meaning it is now a generic name.
In his decision, trade mark hearings officer Ian Thompson said: "The evidence overwhelmingly supports the proposition that the terms (ugg, ugh and ug boots) are interchangeably used to describe a specific style of sheepskin boot and are the first and most natural way in which to describe these goods."
Mrs McDougall said they were elated by the decision.
"We are absolutely thrilled to bits," she said. "This is a moral victory for all Australians."
Lawyer David Stewart, SC, who represented the McDougalls, said he was very pleased with the result, which would come as good news to many Australians.
"It's a really good example of a bunch of small business owners all pulling together and helping each other out to overcome a problem," he said.
"What it effectively means, if (Deckers) don't appeal it and the decision stands, then they won't be able to send out letters to people telling them to stop using the word ugg or ugg boots."
"So with that monopoly removed it means anyone can use the word ugg-boots to describe their goods within Australia."
Mr Stewart said Deckers still owned the trademark in other jurisdictions, including the United States – a country many Australian companies sell their products to over the internet.
But he said the Australian decision could have flow-on effects overseas.
In the past, attempts to have the trademark removed from the US register failed because judges were not convinced ugg was a generic term in Australia thanks to Decker's registration of the word, Mr Stewart said.
"The case was lost on that point, so there might now be some repercussions on that point if someone decides again to challenge the trademark."
"There might be some sort of domino effect."
A representative for Deckers was unable to be reached for comment.
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