Former South Australian senator, Nick Xenophon, says he is seriously considering a return to federal politics and all because of ugg boots, The Advertiser reports.
Mr Xenophon is one of the lawyers representing Sydney shoemaker, Eddie Oygur, in his battle against US outdoor clothing retailer, Deckers, over the right to market sheepskin boots as “uggs.”
According to The Advertiser, Australia is this week set to lose the rights to “ugg” boots, the only remaining hope being if the Federal Government makes a direct appeal to the US Supreme Court and provides $500,000 in legal funding.
Mr Xenophon said he was incensed by the government’s “couldn’t give a stuff attitude.”
“For the last five years, Eddie has been standing up for Australia to bring the ugg back home, and with it thousands of jobs. It’s about time the Australian government stood up for the national interest and stood by Eddie,” Mr Xenophon, who is Greek Australian, told The Advertiser.
“This should be a no-brainer. Are our political leaders so out of touch they can’t see the benefits of rolling their sleeves up and getting involved?
“For the Australian Government not to stand up for an iconic Aussie product, and let an overseas corporate giant bully Aussie battlers like Eddie is a disgrace. It makes us an international laughing stock.”
Mr Oygur’s legal argument is “ugg” is a generic Australian term for sheepskin boots lined with fleece, made since the 1960s, that should be protected against trademark in the same way companies cannot trademark French “champagne” or Greek “feta.”
If he loses, according to The Advertiser, Mr Oygur will be financially ruined by Deckers, a global behemoth manufacturing ugg boots in China and Vietnam.
Source: The Advertiser.
