New Zealand Rugby sues NRL's PNG Chiefs over trademark clash with Super Rugby side

New Zealand Rugby has taken the NRL’s expansion franchise, the PNG Chiefs, to the High Court of New Zealand, seeking an injunction that would prevent the incoming rugby league club from using the ‘Chiefs’ name ahead of its official launch later this month.

NZR has held trademarks for the ‘Chiefs’ name and logo in New Zealand since 1998 and has also maintained trademark protection for the Chiefs logo in Australia. The union says it spent more than a year attempting to resolve the dispute directly with the Australian Rugby League Commission before resorting to legal action. It is now seeking both an interim and final injunction blocking the use of ‘PNG Chiefs’, ‘Chiefs’, or any similar name in New Zealand.

IP Australia, the country’s intellectual property regulator, has also weighed in, concluding there is a “real and tangible danger of confusion” if the NRL franchise proceeds with the name as planned.

“For 30 years the Chiefs and their players have built an incredibly strong identity that is widely recognised and loved by fans,” NZR CEO Steve Lancaster said. “We have raised our concerns with the ARLC directly and consistently over the last year in attempting to find a resolution. We now have a responsibility to protect the Chiefs brand.”

Lancaster was careful to separate the legal dispute from any opposition to rugby league’s expansion in the Pacific, a project NZR said it actively supports. The union’s objection, it stressed, is specific to two clubs in different codes competing under the same name in the same regional market, with overlapping fan bases and broadcast windows.

Chiefs CEO Simon Graafhuis reinforced that point, arguing the issue is not simply one of shared naming across different sports. “The similarity of our sports competing in the same market, for the same fans, in overlapping windows” is what makes the situation untenable, he said.

The PNG Chiefs’ entry into the NRL represents a landmark moment for the competition and for rugby league’s growth in Papua New Guinea, a country with deep ties to the sport. The ARLC’s Executive Chairman Peter V’landys made clear the commission has no intention of backing down, responding to the legal action with a blunt statement: “We will defend this vigorously. The hypocrisy is mind-blowing, considering the Auckland Blues in 1996 used the NSW Blues name without any consultation.”

The franchise’s official launch, including the unveiling of its logo, is scheduled for later this month, meaning the High Court will likely need to move quickly on NZR’s application for an interim injunction if it is to have any practical effect before the brand is publicly established.