Australian ugg boot-maker loses legal battle over trademark naming rights reports AAP
Australian ugg boot-maker Eddie Oygur has suffered a $643,000 loss in his “David versus Goliath” legal fight with a major US footwear and apparel company.
A jury in Chicago on Friday found Mr Oygur’s business, Sydney-based Australian Leather, wilfully infringed a trademark registered to California-based Deckers Outdoor by selling ugg boots online to customers in the US.
After a four-day trial, Mr Oygur was ordered to pay Deckers statutory damages of $643,000 and he may face an order to pay millions more in legal costs.
Deckers generates more than $1.4 billion in annual sales from its UGG brands.
Mr Oygur argued “ugg” is a generic term originating in Australia from the 1960s surfing community.
“It has been a cruel blow,” Australian lawyer and former senator Nick Xenophon, who is in Chicago supporting Mr Oygur, told AAP.
“Everything he has worked for in Australia for over 40 years has come to this.”
