'Blindsided', 'deep concerns': Chiefs v Chiefs - NZ Rugby and NRL go head to head in High Court

The launch of the NRL’s new Chiefs team next week is up in the air after NZ Rugby and the NRL went head-to-head in the High Court on Monday morning in an increasingly fractious trademark dispute between the rival codes.

A Wellington High Court judge will determine whether there should be a two-hour hearing as early as Friday to hear NZ Rugby’s case for an interim injunction to stop the Papua New Guinea Chiefs brand and jersey launch next week - or whether it goes straight to a full-day hearing early next year.

The other possibility is that the Auckland High Court might be able to host a full one-day hearing before the Chiefs launch next Wednesday.

Lawyers for NZ Rugby and the Australian Rugby League Commission (representing the NRL and PNG Chiefs) appeared before Justice Karen Grau in the Wellington High Court on Monday morning.

“What are we to do?” questioned Justice Grau at the start of today’s hearing.

 
NZ Rugby and the NRL are in the High Court over a trademark dispute involving the name Chiefs.

NZ Rugby seeks to prevent the new Papua New Guinea NRL team from using the Chiefs name and branding, saying it will cause confusion with its Waikato-based Chiefs Super Rugby franchise.

The NRL has accused NZ Rugby of hypocrisy, pointing to other cross-code teams that share the same brand names - such as rugby’s Auckland-based Blues and the New South Wales Blues State of Origin team.

While the PNG Chiefs team is not set to join the NRL until 2028, the NRL wants to launch its jersey and branding next Wednesday.

“We don’t have great visibility, but things will escalate from there,” said Sangro Chambers barrister Earl Gray, acting for NZ Rugby and instructed by Duncan Cotterill.

Russell McVeagh lawyer Joe Edwards, acting for the ARLC, said the injunction application was filed on a without notice basis.

He said it had come out of the blue and had “blindsided” people, saying the PNG Chiefs name had been announced by the NRL in October last year.

There had been early correspondence with NZ Rugby, but the ARLC had told it last December it would not be changing the Chiefs name, and hadn’t heard anything more until now.

The Chiefs - with All Blacks stars such as Wallace Sititi - have had plenty of Super Rugby success. Photo / Getty

He said the Chiefs brand would be launched in Papua New Guinea for an Australian-based competition.

“If there was the urgency, this should have been raised 9-10 months ago. My request is for a proper one-day hearing so we can have a chance to put down evidence.

“I’m not sure how much of a fan your honour is ... they don’t enter the league until 2028.”

“Oh, ok,” said Justice Grau, saying she was not a rugby or league expert, as she considered the next legal steps.

Edwards said the name was already out there - next week’s launch was for the jersey.

Gray said NZ Rugby had not blindsided the ARLC, saying draft pleadings had been sent on September 28.

“They’ve been well aware, for some time, that the rugby union’s got deep concerns,” he said.

“They’ve also, perhaps naively, between two sporting bodies - or three - have been attempting to resolve this in an amicable way.

“After some correspondence where it looked like it was going to be full engagement, they’ve tried to engage again.”

Gray said next week’s launch would lead to “deep publicity” in New Zealand. “There’s a deep overlap between [the] rugby and rugby league fan base, and supporters and sponsors and licensees.

“The reality is it will be a big thing and the momentum would be there and the undermining of the trademark rights would become permanent,” said Gray.

Edwards said NZ Rugby had “sat on their hands” until September.

“We’re now being asked in three days to come up with evidence and submissions where I’m not even sure if senior counsel is going to be available on Friday. It seems inherently unfair.”

Justice Grau will hear back from ARLC’s lawyers on the availability of counsel by 2pm today, before determining next steps.

‘Significant confusion and damage’

Earlier, NZ Rugby said allowing the PNG Chiefs name into the Australian and New Zealand market “will cause significant confusion and damage”.

“For 30 years, the Chiefs and their players have built an incredibly strong identity that is widely recognised and loved by fans,” NZ Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster said in a statement last week.

“We 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.

“We want to be absolutely clear, this is not about rugby league’s 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.”

NZ Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster. Photo / Michael Craig

In a statement, Chiefs CEO Simon Graafhuis said: “Teams 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.”

NZ Rugby’s moves have raised the ire of NRL boss Peter V’landys.

“The NSW Blues have been around since the 1900s,” the ARLC executive chairman told The Australian.

“They’ve 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.

“When we registered the Chiefs they have acted with mind-blowing hypocrisy.”

ARLC executive chairman Peter V'landys. Photo / Photosport

There are multiple professional sports teams using the Chiefs’ names across the globe, including in sports that are televised in New Zealand.

The best-known of these is the Kansas City Chiefs, who play in the NFL.

“The Chiefs is a well-known sports brand. There is a lot of them. It’s not just in New Zealand,” V’landys said.

“So [saying] they own the Chiefs name is a slur on every other sporting body that has had it before them.

“There 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.”

Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s 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.