trademark issues for elephant coast

The more I speak to people the more I come to realise that the Elephant Coast has a lot of problems as far as marketing goes. These problems are due to the fact that all the role players are wroking from seperate platforms, and that the platforms that are in place are viewed by others as personal property of individuals and not as a marketing organisation as it should be.

We have 5 local municipalities as listed here
1) Mtubatuba
2) Hlabisa
3) Jozini
4) Umhlabuyalingana
5) Big 5 Fasle bay

then we have a variety of bigger players namely

1) Umkhanyakude District Municipality,
2) the IWPA (iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority)
3) KZN tourism
4) the Elephant Coast tourism association
5) the maputuland Tourism association

Then there is also the smaller players who have marketing strategies for their own associations as well as many small businesses that each run their own private marketing campains.

Then there are IT companies who want to market their services such as My own company Info4u CC which have their own strategies as well.

It thus comes as no surprise that an individual company / association has laid claim to the Umkhanyakude district municipality brand Name of "The Elephant Coast" as their personal property. Unfortunately for them (Maputuland Tourism Association) the name Elephant Coast is in such common use, that it is now deemed to be the local name of the area between Mapelane and Kozi Bay and include the inland areas up to the western boundary of the Hlabisa Local m unicipality.

This means that they do not have the legal right to claim the name as a trade mark, and thus have no right to claim the domain www.elephantcoast.co.za as their own.

The Maputuland Tourism association how ever seems to be of the opinion that they actually own the trade mark "Elepahant Coast" and have taken legal and other not so pleasant steps to aquire this domain www.elephantcoast.co.za for them selves.

This problem needs to be addressed urgently from district level so as to avoid the current infghting of the many interest groups of the Elephant Coast tourism region, as visitors to the Elephant Coast pick up on these small nuances and this makes their stay along the Elephant Coast of KZN South Africa a little uncomfortablke or unpleasant and rubs off on their word of mouth advertising for our region when they get home.

The different user groups such as the recreational beach users and the upper market international tourism sector also have issues with each other due to the inability of the Elephant Coast residents to come arround a common table and sort out their polictical and personal differeances in a controlled and peacful environment where each sector can have an input and a committee or tribunal can take a decision that will best suit the whole of the Elephant Coast.

This is part of the probl;em which the IWPA (iSimangaliso Wetland Park Authority) have in ther kozi bay region of the Elephant Cioast with the local residents being up in arms and forcefully evicted from their own property, where thay have developed in a haphazard style with no municipal planning or approvals from any relevant authority.

What to do and which way to move?

sugestions and ideas on how to get this region working in a co-operative style would be appreciated by many. I will be using the many laws and regulations that have been put in place, and ensuring that the bigger roleplayers are not bullying the smaller players due to their ignorance of the law.

The Maputuland Tourism Association and the iSimangaliso wetland park Authority will not like this, but it needs to be done so that we can get some peace and co-operation between the many fragmented parties who each have a very large stake in the tourism associated with the elephant Coast of KZN South Africa.

iSimangaliso birding Route needs to work closely with all these role players who have an interest and stake in the Elephant Coast Tourism industry, and thus having a bad working relationship with any one of these role players will be a setback for us. This does not how ever mean that we must say "YES SIR, NO SIR THREE BAGS FULL SIR" but rather that we must iron out our differences and find a way to work colectively as we have a common customer base.

The common customer base is the toursits who visit our establishments and attractions as well as making use of our collective services of all the role players within the Elephant Coast tourism industry should be our collectyive concer.

Question is how do we achieve this? any ideas!

Elephant Coast Trade mark

I have not blogged for some time as I was involved in other things which took up much of my time. I now realize that things within the Elephant Coast are all interconnected and that I need to ensure that politics is put in its place and that there is a great deal of ignorance within our communities which need to be addressed through a variety of forums so that the Brand Names chosen by the tourism industry of the Elephant Coast can be made to work for all businesses within the Elephant Coast and the iSimangaliso wetland Park, as well as the rest of the Umkhanykude district Municipality.

The brand name for the Umkhanykude district Municipality was selected after exhaustive consultation with a wide variety of tourism operators as well as the local government and provincial government as well as TKZN (KwaZulu Natal Tourism Authority)

A recent application by Maputuland Tourism Association to claim the internet domain http://elephantcoast.co.za is a case in point, where ignorance of the laws would allow this to proceed without any objection. Maputuland Tourism Association is claiming in a legal application that they own the words "elephant coast" as a trade mark. If this is true then all persons marketing any product or service within the Elephant Coast of KZN South Africa have a very serious problem.

What this implies is that we may not use the words "elephant Coast" in any marketing or advertising of our products or services within the tourism industry of the Elephant Coast in any online environment, as we will be violating their rights as owners of the trademark "Elephant Coast" which they are attempting to "steal" from the current owner.

Uniforum South Africa has an alternative dispute resolution mechanism in place to deal with this, but what about all the others who use the words Elephant Coast within their marketing and advertising ?

According to Maputuland Tourism Association's claim of ownership of the trade mark "Elephant Coast" we are all in trouble and they will be gunning for each and every person who uses the words "Elephant Coast" in any online web site, forum or chat room. If the words "elephant coast" form any part of any URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or web page address.

What to do ?

All tourism operators within the Elephant Coast of KZN South Africa as well as many persons dealing with a tourism operator within the Elephant Coast or the Umkhanykude district Municipality, which includes the iSimangaliso wetland Park need to take note of this and do something.

First step is to challenge the rights of the Maputuland Tourism Association to claim ownership of the trade Mark "Elephant Coast" this is quite simple if one has the resouces, as the TRADE MARK Act (act 194 of 1993) clearly states that one may not register a geographic area name as a trade mark. check out any one of the links below to read the act.

http://www.mangaung.co.za/docs/Trade-Marks-Act.pdf
http://www.gpa.co.za/pdf/legislation/Trade%20Marks%20Act.pdf
http://www.cipro.co.za/legislation%20forms/trade%20marks/Trademark%20Act.pdf

Every establishment within the Elephant Coast which advertises their accommodation as in the Elephant Coast is in breach of the trade mark act if the Maputuland Tourism Association is successful in their "hijacking / theft" of the domain http://elephantcoast.co.za

Name reservation with CIPRO

After much effort and many meetings we have successfuly applied to CIPRO to reserve the Name "iSimangaliso Birding Route"

The next step is registering as an NPO(Non Profit Organisation)

We have a draft Interim constitution which needs to be approved by the Interim steering committee, which should be sent off by the first week in November 2008.

We are already in discussions with the Mtubatuba local Municipality as well as the Umkhanyakude District Municipality, and have requested that the iSimangaliso Birding Route be listed in both their IDP's (Intergrated Development Plan)

Things are looking up, and we are begining to get some support from other areas. Documents submitted to potential partners have been published by these potential partners looking for public opinion, and so far we have only heard good things.

visit www.myspace.com/isimangaliso for more info.

Purpose of iSimangaliso Birding Route

ThE purpose of iSimanagliso Birding Route is to stimulate tourism within the Elephant Coast and the Greater St. lucia wetlands region of KZN South Africa, now called the iSimangaliso wetland park.

the closure of the Elephant Coast beaches to motor vehicle access in December 2002 has had a very dramatic and negative impact on the domestic tourism market of the Elephant Coast causing serious job losses and economic decline within the whole of the Umkhamyakude District Municipality of KZN South Africa, and this birding Route aims to bring back some of the lost tourism in new and novel ways.

As the birding Route grows and becomes more popular with Domestic tourists we will keep you up dated and informed through our various partner sites including:

http://www.info4u.co.za/
http://www.mtuba4u.co.za/
http://www.birding4u.co.za/
http://www.forafrica.co.za/
http://www.isimangaliso.co.za/
http://www.myspace.com/isimangaliso