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Friday, February 12, 2010
Charity protests at Melbourne Heart's logo
Date: February 3rd 2010
Author: Stephen Rielly
From: The Australian
WINNING hearts is one thing, taking the heart name quite another, as Victoria's new A-League club, Melbourne Heart FC, is about to discover.
On the day the club's choice of name, heart-shaped logo and red and white colours were officially unveiled, the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation of Melbourne confirmed it intends to proceed with an objection to the moniker it lodged 13 days ago with IP Australia, the federal agency which grants rights in patents, trademarks and designs.
Andrew Chappell, chief executive of the foundation which holds trademark rights to the logo Heart of Melbourne, the slogan by which its annual appeal for the homeless is known, said the names of the club and the appeal were too similar not to create confusion.
"We're a foundation that raises money for charities and to draw the attention of donors we use a number of brands. The Heart of Melbourne is one of them" Chappell said. "It's an appeal we conduct for the homeless of Melbourne and, for us it's a bit like the Red Shield appeal is to the Salvation Army. Something we conduct each year and have become known for. We've been building it up for a number of years and we trademarked it early on to protect it. There is a whole series of things built around the appeal and from our point of view it is something quite important and valuable.
"We wish the club every success but our worry is that confusion might arise in the minds of people who donate to the appeal, to the cause of the homeless who need our support. There is risk of confusion all round."
While the Football Federation of Australia was aware last year of AFL opposition to the new club's use of the association between Melbourne and FC, it only became aware of the LMCF's disquiet days after its objection was lodged with IP Australia on January 22.
The FFA owns the names by which its clubs participate in its league.
According to Chappell, a legal letter of complaint was also sent to the FFA but he said that to date there had been no other correspondence. Chappell said it was "very disappointing" to hear of Melbourne Heart FC's launch yesterday without any sort of word of an attempted settlement being exchanged between the parties.
"I'm disappointed they haven't spoken to us. Our lawyers sent a letter to the organisation (FFA) in Sydney and it's very disappointing that we haven't been contacted yet by either the club or the governing body of the competition to talk about the issue," he said.
"Hopefully it can be worked through but I'm yet to hear anything. Anything at all.
"We don't want to be obstructive but I'm sure the club wouldn't want to undermine efforts to help the homeless of Melbourne, either. It's a matter of working through some answer because right now, we see a big risk of confusion."
An FFA spokesman told The Australian late last week that the matter "has to be negotiated but will be resolved" and Melbourne Heart FC chief executive Scott Munn said he was confident that an embarrassing change of name for the A-League's 11th club would not be required.
A second name, Sporting Melbourne FC, has been lodged by the FFA with IP Australia and is in the process of trademark approval. No objections to the Sporting Melbourne name have yet emerged.
The LMCF has until April 22 to substantiate its objection, something Chappell said would occur unless a compromise was reached beforehand, although he indicated that trademark protection for the Heart of Melbourne name would not be relinquished.
"We wanted to flag our concern and we had to object because an objection is a procedural requirement in these sorts of matters. But more importantly, our whole role is to help people who need help and we don't want any confusion at all in donors' minds.
"We've got until late April to document fully our concerns. We aren't wishing anything but the best for the club but it's of fundamental concern to us that we support the homeless people of Melbourne, which is why the campaign was created."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/battle-heats-up-for-heart-of-melbourne/story-e6frf9if-1225826211461
Author: Stephen Rielly
From: The Australian
WINNING hearts is one thing, taking the heart name quite another, as Victoria's new A-League club, Melbourne Heart FC, is about to discover.
On the day the club's choice of name, heart-shaped logo and red and white colours were officially unveiled, the Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation of Melbourne confirmed it intends to proceed with an objection to the moniker it lodged 13 days ago with IP Australia, the federal agency which grants rights in patents, trademarks and designs.
Andrew Chappell, chief executive of the foundation which holds trademark rights to the logo Heart of Melbourne, the slogan by which its annual appeal for the homeless is known, said the names of the club and the appeal were too similar not to create confusion.
"We're a foundation that raises money for charities and to draw the attention of donors we use a number of brands. The Heart of Melbourne is one of them" Chappell said. "It's an appeal we conduct for the homeless of Melbourne and, for us it's a bit like the Red Shield appeal is to the Salvation Army. Something we conduct each year and have become known for. We've been building it up for a number of years and we trademarked it early on to protect it. There is a whole series of things built around the appeal and from our point of view it is something quite important and valuable.
"We wish the club every success but our worry is that confusion might arise in the minds of people who donate to the appeal, to the cause of the homeless who need our support. There is risk of confusion all round."
While the Football Federation of Australia was aware last year of AFL opposition to the new club's use of the association between Melbourne and FC, it only became aware of the LMCF's disquiet days after its objection was lodged with IP Australia on January 22.
The FFA owns the names by which its clubs participate in its league.
According to Chappell, a legal letter of complaint was also sent to the FFA but he said that to date there had been no other correspondence. Chappell said it was "very disappointing" to hear of Melbourne Heart FC's launch yesterday without any sort of word of an attempted settlement being exchanged between the parties.
"I'm disappointed they haven't spoken to us. Our lawyers sent a letter to the organisation (FFA) in Sydney and it's very disappointing that we haven't been contacted yet by either the club or the governing body of the competition to talk about the issue," he said.
"Hopefully it can be worked through but I'm yet to hear anything. Anything at all.
"We don't want to be obstructive but I'm sure the club wouldn't want to undermine efforts to help the homeless of Melbourne, either. It's a matter of working through some answer because right now, we see a big risk of confusion."
An FFA spokesman told The Australian late last week that the matter "has to be negotiated but will be resolved" and Melbourne Heart FC chief executive Scott Munn said he was confident that an embarrassing change of name for the A-League's 11th club would not be required.
A second name, Sporting Melbourne FC, has been lodged by the FFA with IP Australia and is in the process of trademark approval. No objections to the Sporting Melbourne name have yet emerged.
The LMCF has until April 22 to substantiate its objection, something Chappell said would occur unless a compromise was reached beforehand, although he indicated that trademark protection for the Heart of Melbourne name would not be relinquished.
"We wanted to flag our concern and we had to object because an objection is a procedural requirement in these sorts of matters. But more importantly, our whole role is to help people who need help and we don't want any confusion at all in donors' minds.
"We've got until late April to document fully our concerns. We aren't wishing anything but the best for the club but it's of fundamental concern to us that we support the homeless people of Melbourne, which is why the campaign was created."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/battle-heats-up-for-heart-of-melbourne/story-e6frf9if-1225826211461
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