A Federal Court ruling has ramifications for the tourism industry at large.
Kosciuszko Thredbo Pty Limited has lost a case against ThredboNet Marketing Pty Limited in a bid to stop the hotel internet marketer from using the place name Thredbo in domain names, websites and social media sites as reported by Michael Field on LinkedIn.
“Not only has Thredbo Alpine Village (Kosciuszko Thredbo) lost its ability to protect its hard-earned brand name, but by failing to implement an effective digital strategy it has cleared the way for competitors to dominate in the lucrative search engine rankings market” writes Field.
“The battle for mindshare has irreversibly shifted from brand to browser in the travel and accommodation industries as travellers increasingly use the internet to research and book travel and accommodation.”
According to Field ‘Thredbo’ is searched 40,500 times; ‘Thredbo weather’ has been searched 8100 times; ‘Thredbo accommodation’ is searched 5400 times; ‘Thredbo alpine hotel’ is searched 1600 times and the Thredbo Wikipedia page received 2967 search results in the last 30 days
So how did this happen?
Michael Field writes that ‘The Federal Court looked at Google screenshots of searches for ‘Thredbo’, and ‘Thredbo reservations’ that showed a variety of links to traders which ‘proved’ that the word Thredbo was not distinctive to the Thredbo Alpine Village business, and the website disclaimer was effective.’
To further understand the ramifications for destination, resort and travel marketers read Michael Field’s report in full here and a legal analysis of the decision by tourism lawyer Anthony J Cordato on Lexology here.
Do you think this ruling is fair?
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There seems to be a common misconception here that Kosciuszko Thredbo “lost’ the right to the word Thredbo.
They ever had it in the first place and basically have used bullying tactics over the past 20 odd years in an effort to steal the word from the people of NSW. They claimed in court that they coined the phrase Thredbo which is totally untrue.
Thredbo is a geographical location first and foremost, postcode 2625. Thredbo is an aboriginal word meaning resting place and that the Parish of Thredbo dates back to around 1850. Thredbo the name belongs probably to the people of the state of NSW.
“Thredbo Alpine Village” is nothing but a trademark which was devised by Lend Lease prior to AHL, the the village of Thredbo is a totally different thing.
AND THE COMMENT ;
“Not only has Thredbo Alpine Village (Kosciuszko Thredbo) lost its ability to protect its hard-earned brand name, but by failing to implement an effective digital strategy it has cleared the way for competitors to dominate in the lucrative search engine rankings market”
The high court has said for your that if you build or attempt to build a brand around a descriptive term ( thredbo = descriptive term ) then you do so at your own risk and don’t rely on the courts to protect you.
It is a free market out there, Kosiuszko Thredbo through its market position should control whatever part of the Thredbo bussines they require, its not just effective marketing strategy lacking here, its
“strategy and quality management” If they were half effective businesses such as Thredbonet Marketing wouldn’t exist.
Lessons for marketeers is that you shouldn’t build a brand around a descriptive term. It s doomed to failure