The legal battle that has pitched the makers of AussieMite and OzEmite against each other is set to ramp up in the federal court.
The pair had unsuccessfully attended mediation after OzEmite's maker, Dick Smith Foods, appealed an IP Australia decision in favour of AussieMite's maker, Roger Ramsey and his daughter, Elise.
Dick Smith applied to register the OzEmite in 1999 but did not launch a product until 2012, while Ramsey launched his product in 2001 and applied for the trademark in the same year.
In February, IP Australia ruled in favour of an application lodged by Ramsey to remove OzEmite's trade mark registration and the following month, Dick Smith, announced he would appeal the decision.
AussieMite managing director Elise Ramsey says she is devastated by the news, according to Business Review Weekly.
“It’s very disappointing because we’re a small Australian business with one brand and one product... and here’s Dick Smith forcing us to defend our brand and now we’re off to the federal court to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Ramsey says.
“I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it’s been as a small business ... it’s all very well if he wants to compete with Kraft but he doesn’t need to go and squash a small family business and in particular a small Australian business. I’m absolutely devastated.”
