Council silent on court costs

By Shaun Inguanzo
GREATER Dandenong Council has failed to reveal the sum ratepayers are forking out for a top-shelf law firm to battle a lengthy and ongoing dispute over trade marking the Dandenong Town Hall.
The council last week appealed a decision in February by IP Australia, the Federal Government’s intellectual property watchdog, that allowed the Dandenong Mechanics Institute to trade mark an image of the Dandenong Town Hall.
It has been using, and will continue to use, self-confessed ‘leading Australian law firm’ Maddocks to represent it in the Federal Court hearing that is scheduled to begin on 16 March.
The issue began in June 2004 when the Dandenong Mechanics Institute care of president Andrew Russell applied to trade mark a black and white sketch of the town hall.
Mr Russell said the Mechanics Institute first met at the town hall during the early 1900s.
IP Australia was in the process of approving the application in 2005 when Greater Dandenong council, represented by then-CEO Carl Wulff, opposed it in May that year.
The council said neither Mr Russell nor the Mechanics Institute owned the town hall.
It also said that trade marking the town hall could ‘deceive or cause confusion’ within the community, and argued that details in Mr Russell’s application to IP Australia were false.
Mr Wulff presented an original invitation to the 1890 town hall opening dinner, a centenary spoon, and other 1990 centenary correspondence to IP Australia – all bearing images of the town hall – to spur the objections.
But last month IP Australia ruled in favour of Mr Russell, with hearing officer Debrett Lyons saying “I am not satisfied any of the grounds on which the opposition was based has been established.”
The council’s community services director June Dugina said the council was appealing because the town hall was a public asset not owned by any one group.
“Mr Russell, on behalf of one group, is claiming exclusive use of the image for the activities of historical education, research, education and training activities,” she said.
Ms Dugina said the Mechanics Institute under Mr Russell was a ‘reconstituted’ version because the original institute folded in the 1970s “and the assets of the Institute were passed over to council.”
Ms Dugina said that Maddocks believed the IP Australia hearing could be successfully appealed based on the evidence it originally submitted.
A Maddocks letter to Mr Russell notifying him of the council’s Federal Court action also reveals the council’s intentions to recover the costs of the battle from the Noble Park resident, which he believes could be enormous.
But Ms Dugina this week ignored questions of how much the battle was costing ratepayers.
She also failed to provide a reason as to why the council would not disclose the amount.
Dandenong Residents and Ratepayers Association president Alan Hood blasted the council’s role in the battle.
“It’s a pointless exercise, and seems more like a vicious payback against a single resident,” Mr Hood said.
“No one I’ve asked can ever recall the council using the town hall as a trademark, so it would be more responsible of the council to withdraw its action and stop wasting large amounts of our rates.”