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Redbubble’s Hells Angels woes continue
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Joe Aston

Redbubble’s Hells Angels woes continue

Joe AstonColumnist

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Justice Andrew Greenwood agreed on Wednesday to reopen a Federal Court trademark dispute between outlaw bikie organisation the Hells Angels and ASX-listed junk merchandiser Redbubble. The trial concluded in July but the Hells Angels returned to court in August with new evidence of what the gang alleges are Redbubble’s ongoing rights infringements.

This is the second suit brought by the Hells Angels against Redbubble, which sells clothing and knick-knacks printed with custom artwork. The Hells Angels prevailed in the first dispute, also presided over by Justice Greenwood, in 2019.

Needless to say, there is glaring irony in a criminal motorcycle gang engaging so civilly in intellectual property disputation. “Lawless militia turns to Commonwealth law courts for remedy.” What happened to just petrol-bombing Redbubble’s headquarters?

Another hilarity to arise from this row is that consumer demand even exists for such heinous merchandise as Hells Angels’ beer coasters, face masks and bumper stickers. What, no commemorative plates?!

Redbubble even sold (unauthorised) T-shirts emblazoned with the group’s “death head” insignia and its laughable motto “death before dishonour”. Because there’s so much honour in trafficking industrial quantities of crystal meth.

The gang argued, “it has sustained loss and damage by reason of the infringement conduct and will continue to suffer damage unless Redbubble is restrained.” Presumably, the availability of Paddy’s Markets-quality novelty gear is undermining the current bidding war between Balenciaga and Givenchy to offer a licensed Hells Angels leisurewear collection.

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The new evidence of Redbubble’s continued breaches of the gang’s IP was uncovered by the gang’s “trademark officer”, whose role “is one of monitoring, predominantly online, and identifying uses of signs which might be considered deceptively similar to those … of the trademark owner.” That’s right, the Hells Angels have a trademark officer! In the president’s weekly meetings of his group executive committee, does the trademark officer sit between the head of kneecapping and the general manager, racketeering? Or perhaps alongside the director of prostitution and firearms?

One thing’s for sure: Redbubble CEO Michael Ilczynski is a dauntless fellow, though the beginnings of this multi-phased dispute do predate his leadership of the company. Hang on, has anyone checked in on his predecessor?

Ilczynski fronted analysts after Redbubble’s FY21 results on August 19 and said: “We take the rights of rights holders very, very seriously. Whenever anything is raised, it’s a 24-hour or less turnaround by our team on looking into any potential right infringement and if there is any infringing content, it’s removed and we continue to monitor for infringing content on an ongoing basis. The challenge is any technology or human-based system is not foolproof. Image detection is not foolproof, tagging detection is not foolproof and sometimes, unfortunately, content gets through by bad actors.”

Bad actors! There are so many in this warped story.

Joe Aston helmed The Australian Financial Review's Rear Window column from 2012 to 2023. Connect with Joe on Facebook and Twitter.

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