Brosnan Golf wins trade mark claim

The Federal Court of Australia has refused an application by US golf company King Par LLC (King Par) for summary judgment against its Australian rival Brosnan Golf Pty Ltd (Brosnan), in a case involving competing ownership claims for the ORLIMAR trade mark in relation to golf equipment.    

While the decision represents a setback for King Par, the case is ongoing and it remains to be seen whether King Par or Brosnan has the better claim to ownership of the ORLIMAR trade mark.

Background facts of the case

The Orlimar group of companies (Orlimar Group) was established in the 1970s by three Americans, who conceived of the word ORLIMAR as their trade mark by combining the initial letters from each of their surnames: Lou Ortiz, Pedro Liendo and Emilio Martinez.

The brand achieved notoriety in the late 1990s after Orlimar Group released a fairway wood known as the “Orlimar Trimetal”. The product went on to become the number one played fairway wood on the PGA Tour from 1998 to 2001.

At the same time, in 1998, the Orlimar Group obtained trade mark registrations in Australia for the words ORLIMAR and ORLIMAR TRIMETAL in respect of sporting equipment including golf equipment and golf clubs (being goods in class 28).

Despite the commercial success of the Orlimar Trimetal fairway wood, Orlimar Group fell into major financial difficulty in 2002 and its business was eventually wound-up. As a part of the winding-up process Orlimar Group’s remaining assets, including its two Australian trade mark registrations, were sold to a company that on-sold them to King Par.

Click here for full golf story and golf news source