Legal Row Looms Over Q1 Name
Mike Bruce (The Bulletin Newspaper - Gold Coast)
January 15th, 2009
BRISBANE lawyers are trying to mount a class action against accommodation giant Stella for its bid to take control of the name 'Q1'.
Stella, which holds the management rights to Surfers Paradise's Q1 tower, has applied to trademark the Q1 name and its logo -- a move which Brisbane law firm Irish Bentley has slammed as anti-competitive and a hijack to monopolise bookings in the iconic apartment tower.
Stella chief executive Bob East rejected the suggestion, saying the application was simply a legitimate move to shut out shonks and fly-by-nighters feeding off the Q1 accommodation scene.
Irish Bentley has letter-dropped several hundred unit owners in Q1, urging them to join a class action against Stella with the firm's client LeisureCom -- a Southport-based accommodation agency -- to fight the trademarking of Q1, which he says will seriously affect his client's income and freedom of choice for unit owners.
"Stella is trying to monopolise all marketing whether rental or sales in Q1 just because they have the management rights of the building," said Irish Bentley partner Zeke Bentley.
He claimed the trademarking was anti-competitive as it could hamper unit owners from advertising their units with other agents or from using the Q1 name when advertising their units.
"It's unfair to unit owners and to marketing businesses selling accommodation in there ... if you're a unit holder and want to rent it out, you want the maximum number of people having access to it (the unit)."
Mr East said Stella already had the Q1 trademark approved by Intellectual Property Australia (IPA) and had recently applied to trademark the logo only.
However, IPA records show that the Q1 trademark has been accepted pending objections, which Irish Bentley plans to lodge before the deadline of February 13.
But Mr East denied there was anything sinister in the company's move, calling the matter a 'misunderstanding'.
"Our trademarking in no way precludes anybody from using that logo or trademark for legitimate purposes with our consent and places no restriction on their trade," said Mr East. "We're just trying to protect the reputation of the building and stop people purporting to have a connection with the building that do not."
Stella is the second-largest accommodation provider in the southern hemisphere and controls about 8000 rooms on the Coast.
Mr East said Stella had lost bookings to internet companies operating illegally or without legitimate real estate licences in the past -- this move was designed to stamp that out. He did not allege LeisureCom was one of those.
One former Stella employee agreed the move was probably to prevent 'fly-by-night' internet resellers who were riding on the coat-tails of Stella's massive marketing spend.
"They (Stella) own the management letting rights so they should have every right to use the name Q1," he said. "They paid a fortune for those letting rights and all those bottom feeders can start using their brand and misrepresenting their brand in the building."
Story available at - http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2009/01/15/39551_gold-coast-top-story.html
