DESPITE POWERFUL APPEAL GROUNDS TO KNOCK OUT ‘UGG’ TRADEMARK HELD BY US COMPANY, AND A STRONG ‘FRIEND OF THE COURT’ BRIEF FILED BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT:
SHOCK RESULT ‘A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE’: US Supreme Court REJECTS ‘UGG’ Appeal
In a shock decision, the David v Goliath battle between Sydney Ugg bootmaker, Eddie Oygur and his small family company, Australian Leather Pty Ltd, has been dealt a cruel blow with the US Supreme Court rejecting his petition to hear the landmark case.
The decision made this week by the US Supreme Court means that Eddie’s avenues of appeal have now been exhausted, and he faces personal bankruptcy, and his family business liquidation, as a result of $3.4 million in penalties and legal fees for the other side’s lawyers – all for selling 13 pairs of Ugg boots in the US via his australianleather.com.au website from 2011 to 2016 – an average of 2.2 pairs of boots each year. Four of those pairs of Ugg boots were ‘trap’ purchases by agents of Deckers.
THE NUB OF THE CASE
At the nub of the case it was argued by Eddie’s lawyers that ‘Ugg’ is a generic Australian term for sheepskin boots since the 1960’s and was improperly trademarked in the US in the 1990’s.
A legal principle the Doctrine of Foreign Equivalents states that a generic term in one country can’t be trademarked in another.
However, the lawyers for US footwear giant, Deckers, which owns the Ugg trademark said that the doctrine didn’t apply to English speaking countries, which many legal commentators say is laughable.
Eddie’s US legal team, headed by former US Solicitor-General, Seth Waxman, filed strong appeal arguments in Court last October (attached), and the Australian Government followed suit a month later by filing a compelling ‘amicus curiae’ (Friend of the Court) Brief (attached) arguing the ‘UGG’ trademark discriminated against Aussie ugg bootmakers selling their products overseas.
The advice from Seth Waxman was that the case was a strong one based on the legal principles involved, and was further strengthened by the Australian Government’s support.
Eddie Oygur, who now faces bankruptcy as well as having spent his entire life savings and all his assets on the case, said he was “devastated” by the decision. Eddie said:
'I didn’t get a fair go from the US legal system – it is as simple as that. I deserved my day in court, not just for me, but for Australia’
Quotes from Eddie’s Australian legal team, former Senator Nick Xenophon and former ACCC Director, Michael Terceiro:
Quotes from Nick Xenophon
“This is a bizarre travesty of justice. Despite a strong case and very compelling support from the Australian Government, the US Supreme Court treated this important case with disdain by not even giving it an opportunity to be argued in open court”
“Most Australians think the world of the US, but it seems the US Supreme Court has barely given any thought to a powerful submission by the Australian Government on an issue in Australia’s national interest. As a nation we have been treated with contempt by the highest court in the United States”
“It also highlights the free Trade Agreement between Australia and the US is a one way street here; a free for all for a US conglomerate to crush an Aussie battler”
Michael Terceiro
“I have been involved in this case since the very beginning, and it is hard to believe it has come to this”
“The Australian Government in its submission to the US Supreme Court highlighted the unfairness of Australian companies being ‘unjustly discriminated’ against by the unfair way this doctrine has been applied to-date in the US”
“It now seems that US companies have been given carte blanche to trademark generic terms from English speaking countries, including indigenous terms from Australia”
Eddie and his Australian lawyers again expressed their gratitude to the Australian Government for filing the Friend of the Court Brief and for funding the US legal team to file the Appeal.
“It may be the end of the road for Eddie in this case, but somehow we will all regroup and find another way to bring ‘ugg’ back home. Eddie won’t be giving up, and neither will his Aussie legal team” said Nick Xenophon.