Wellington
Well IPONZ, the Intellectual Property Office, have opened up a can of worms in accepting that thewords 'KA MATE' and a logo featuring those words can be trademarked.
This follows the mandated authority for NgatiToa , Te Runanga O Toa Rangatira Inc unsuccessfully trying from 1998 to 2006 to win trademarkregistration for the entire words to Ka Mate, the well-known All Black haka, and spur-of-the-momentperformance given by overseas kiwis. It is also the subject of various other renditions from YouTubelego to advertising take offs.
Originally IPONZ ruled that the words were in thepublic domain and could not be monopolised as no one particular organisation could be identified asthe trade source of goods or services promoted in conjunction with this haka. In other words, itwasn't a 'brand' capable of distinguishing your activities from those of others.
On that basis, Ka Mate's genie was well and truly out of the lamp. For the majority of people,this haka is part of our cultural identity.
As Chapman Tripp partner Matt Sumpter points out, while expressing surprise at IPONZ's decision, it’s a bit likethe words 'kiwi' or 'Aotearoa', or the shape of the NZ coast line being trademarked. They're wordsand images which no one can own.
His argument is that words like Ka Mate have fallen into the public domain.
Sure, for new artistic work, or the words of a new haka (e.g. the alternate All Black haka Kapa oPango) copyright can protect the performance and communication of dance and other work in and to thepublic. That lasts for the life of the author plus 50 years.
And copyright protection also requires identification of a precise author - pretty tricky in KaMate's case.
Now, apparently the NZ Rugby Football Union and another trading company haveopposed the IPONZ decision on the KA MATE trademark issue in proceedings pending before Commissionerof Trade Marks.
That will be an extremely interesting test case.
Heaven forbid though that we start seeing cease and desist letters to those before mentionedYouTube lego 'films' and advertisements. That would be just the type of publicity NZ Inc, we who'own' (if such a thing is possible) our cultural experience, would really want.
Given that our cultural image overseas is one of not being much fun to do business dealing with(see Tony Smale's research findings
Surely too, it comes down to the idea that the only kind of bad publicity is nopublicity…..just don't spell my name wrong.
If Ngati Toa were a bit more creative, there would be other ways to take advantage of, or link tothe historical luck that had Ka Mate chosen by the 1905 All Blacks as its pre-match performance.
Then again, maybe the Runanga's really happy to pay lawyers to police what's in the publicdomain.