Snakebuster (Raymond Hoser) – Trademark misuse by Prospero
Pty Ltd and Anor.
Dear all,
Some of you would be aware of a series of legal battles involving my trademarks Snakebuster and snakebusters.
However not all would be aware of the details of the cases
or the final outcomes.
I/we am pleased to report that this week, the battle was
finally resolved with myself winning all court actions and related matters.
I have owned the trademarks for many years and two have been
registered for some time. The trademarks
are also authorized for use by the company Kotabi, of which I am owner and
director.
Recently a West Australian Film company, Prospero, (Owned by
Ed Punchard and Julia Redwood) saw the value of my intellectual property and
decided to misuse it for their own commercial advantage. This they did essentially by bootlegging my
research and articles as a basis for a series of documentaries, featuring a
nobody in the herp community, by the name of Bruce George.
To facilitate their “ambush”, they sued for the cancellation
of my existing trademarks and also to prevent a third and related trademark
from being registered. The third mark
related to merchandise and not the snake catching or TV matters, both marks of
which I owned and had registered at the materially relevant dates.
All the legal actions by Prospero to cancel the existing
trademarks failed.
This didn’t stop the company from illegally making and
screening a series of poor quality films on cable TV, in contravention of the
trademark rights. They obtained several
million dollars in the process of misusing the trademark and on the basis of
it’s prior good name.
This caused substantial damage to my good name and
commercial damages as well and as a result, late last year, the company and
associated TV networks agreed to pay a sizeable amount of damages to
myself. This amount is unfortunately
confidential.
The damages resulted from a settlement in legal proceedings
we commenced against the company and related entities and followed on from a
series of failed actions by them against myself.
Reports made at the time (end 2005) by associated entities
that my side had lost the case at end 2005 were false. However, due to the fact that the payout
amount to us was “confidential” and due to the fact that there was a 28 day
window for Prospero to pay us, we chose not to respond to the false reports at
the time, so as not to jeopardize the money being paid to our account.
We can now however report that Prospero paid us damages,
which in any plain language means we won the case.
We also report the following facts to correct misinformation
on the internet:
1 – During proceedings a judge published a ruling that asserted that the Hoser trademarks had been violated and that Propsero and Bruce George had defamed Hoser by masquerading as him in a callous manner on the TV shows in matters that clearly related to Hoser’s intellectual property.
2 – Prospero claimed in sworn
evidence via an affidavit, that they were effectively bankrupt leaving our side
with the prospect of obtaining a multi-million dollar judgment against the
company but with no effective means of recovery, noting they claimed at one
stage to have only about $300 in the bank.
3 – As a result of “2”, we had no
effective alternative but to accept the far smaller amount of cash offered by
Prospero early on in the end 2005 proceedings so as to avoid incurring further
legal costs that also may never have been recoverable. The amount of money paid is confidential,
but was sufficient to cover the substantial Hoser legal costs (Many thousands
of dollars and obviously vastly superior to the previous amount claimed by
Prospero). The money paid by Prospero
also gave some money to Hoser in compensation for damage to his good name.
4 – Contrary to an assertion on a
wesbite controlled by one of Punchard’s associates, there was no judgment made
against Hoser. All legal findings in
all matters relating to Prospero, Hoser and the trademarks have been in Hoser’s
favor, with Hoser retaining all three trademarks (see below).
5 - Contrary to an assertion on a website, there was no testimony from a West Australian snake handler Brian Bush via videolink and hence it could not have played any role in the proceedings. Bush had no materially relevant evidence to give in the first instance and the proceedings were resolved via Prospero’s offer of cash before Bush was called to give evidence.
6 – Due to the fact that Prospero
had about 28 days to pay money to the Hoser lawyers, we chose not to publish
anything on the matter until after the money had been received and banked.
7 – The proceedings by Prospero against the registering of the third trademark 963988 for snakebuster merchandise finally failed in May 2006, whereupon it was registered to the backdated date of 2003. We chose to await the closure of this final chapter of the proceedings by Prospero before publishing this communication asserting total ownership of the snakebusters trademarks.
8 – Throughout the legal
proceedings and until the point of conclusion, Prospero asserted that Raymond
Hoser had no legal claim on the trademark Snakebuster and snakebusters. This position has now been shown to be in
error.
9 – Separate to Prospero, the TV
networks that illegally aired the Prospero shows “snakebuster” admitted
liability and stated that they would not re-screen the programs.
10 - Separate to Prospero, the TV
networks that illegally aired the Prospero shows “snakebuster” paid Hoser and
his lawyers damages that covered all legal bills and some compensation to
Hoser.
11 - Separate to Prospero, the TV
networks that illegally aired the Prospero shows “snakebuster” asked Hoser to
produce a more professional reptile program for them. This offer is being considered within other pressing time
constraints.
12 – As a result of these proceedings and their conclusion and the retention of all trademarks in the Hoser name(namely 912066 – snakebusters, 963988 – snakebuster, 964068 – snakebuster), the following points should be noted:
A – Raymond Hoser is the
snakebuster. No one else can claim
or use the name without written authorization from the trademark owner.
B – Any unlawful use of the
trademark names snakebuster, snakebusters or anything deceptively similar may
result in legal proceedings against those who breach the trademark rights.
C – “A” and “B” apply to persons,
entities and the like and use in any other countries signatory to the Madrid
Protocol.
D – Raymond Hoser, his company and
authorized persons reserve all rights in regards to the trademarks and may take
action against any person or entity who misuse his trademarks or do anything
else to interfere with or damage the intellectual property.
13 – This communication should be disseminated as widely as possible, including on internet websites and printed publications, including major reptile related websites and print publications.
Trade Mark
History: 963988
|
25-MAY-2006 |
Trade
Marks Registered |
Advert |
|
18-MAY-2006 |
Opposition
Discontinued with Regn Proceeding |
Advert |
|
15-MAY-2006 |
Register
Trade Mark |
|
|
11-MAY-2006 |
Opposition
Withdrawn |
|
|
10-MAY-2006 |
Withdrawal
of Opposition |
|
|
10-MAY-2006 |
Withdrawal
of Opposition |
|
|
08-MAY-2006 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
31-AUG-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
22-AUG-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
22-AUG-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
22-AUG-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
22-AUG-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
19-AUG-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
15-AUG-2005 |
Stat Dec. |
|
|
15-AUG-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
06-JUL-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
04-JUL-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
04-JUL-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
28-JUN-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
27-JUN-2005 |
Declaration |
|
|
27-JUN-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
11-MAY-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
26-APR-2005 |
Furth.
Evidence |
|
|
20-APR-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
13-APR-2005 |
Declaration |
|
|
13-APR-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
13-APR-2005 |
Furth.
Evidence |
|
|
05-APR-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
05-APR-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
01-APR-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
24-MAR-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
10-MAR-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
24-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
21-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
15-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
10-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
08-FEB-2005 |
Hearing
Fee |
|
|
07-FEB-2005 |
Hearing
Fee |
|
|
07-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
07-FEB-2005 |
Request
Hearing |
|
|
07-FEB-2005 |
Declaration |
|
|
07-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
04-FEB-2005 |
Hearing
Fee |
|
|
04-FEB-2005 |
Declaration |
|
|
04-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
03-FEB-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
14-JAN-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
12-JAN-2005 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
24-DEC-2004 |
Declaration |
|
|
24-DEC-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
21-OCT-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
13-OCT-2004 |
Declaration |
|
|
13-OCT-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
10-AUG-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
26-JUL-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
22-JUL-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
20-JUL-2004 |
Stat Dec. |
|
|
20-JUL-2004 |
Extension
Opp. |
|
|
04-MAY-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
03-MAY-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
27-APR-2004 |
Extension
Opp. |
|
|
18-MAR-2004 |
Notice of
Opposition Lodged |
Advert |
|
01-MAR-2004 |
Suspend
for Opposition |
|
|
26-FEB-2004 |
Opposition
Correspondence |
|
|
23-FEB-2004 |
Notice of
Opp. |
|
|
04-DEC-2003 |
Accepted
Applications for Registration of Trade Mark |
Advert |
|
04-DEC-2003 |
Accepted
Applications for Registration of Trade Mark |
Advert |
|
25-NOV-2003 |
Sealing
fee (single class) |
|
|
14-NOV-2003 |
Amend
Status from Awaiting Advertisement |
|
|
10-SEP-2003 |
Clear
Report - Approved |
Report
No. 2 |
|
10-SEP-2003 |
Clear
Examination report approved |
|
|
09-SEP-2003 |
Class 9
Goods and Services |
|
|
08-SEP-2003 |
Exam
Response |
|
|
01-SEP-2003 |
Exam
Response |
|
|
28-AUG-2003 |
Adverse
Report - Approved |
Report
No. 1 |
|
28-AUG-2003 |
Amend
Status from Taken for Examination |
|
|
28-AUG-2003 |
Acceptance
date |
|
|
21-AUG-2003 |
Applications
Filed |
Advert |
|
06-AUG-2003 |
Amend
Status from Indexing Approved |
|
|
06-AUG-2003 |
Expedition
of Application |
|
|
04-AUG-2003 |
Amend
Status from Indexed |
|
|
04-AUG-2003 |
Amend
Status from Filed - Approved |
|
|
04-AUG-2003 |
Declaration |
|
|
04-AUG-2003 |
Expedite |
|
|
01-AUG-2003 |
Approve
Filing |
|
|
31-JUL-2003 |
Filing an
Electronic Application for a TM 1 Class |
Non-urgent email inquiries via the Snakebusters bookings page at:
http://www.snakebusters.com.au/sbsboo1.htm
Urgent inquiries phone:
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia:
(03) 9812 3322 or 0412 777 211