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