Merivale is in a trademark dispute with a new Brisbane restaurant representing giant multinational Stanbroke beef, over the rights to the name Establishment.
Establishment 203 opened its doors on Marshall St in Fortitude Valley on 28 November, 2023, being the first restaurant from Stanbroke, and exclusively stocking steak from the company’s Grantham abattoir.
According to court documents, legal representatives for Merivale requested the restaurant stop using the name Establishment the month it opened, but were told that would not happen unless they were “restrained” by the courts.
In February Hemmes Trading P/L filed a lawsuit against Establishment 203 P/L that accused the restaurant of seeking to profit from the use of the same moniker as the Merivale venue in the Sydney CBD.
The order aims to prevent the restaurant from using the name, but also seeks damages for financial losses, and for the dilution of the Establishment name.
Hemmes opened Establishment on George St around the time of the Sydney Olympics, in late 2000. It reports around 20k customers per week, through its bar, restaurant and accommodation offerings.
Lawyers propose there is a genuine “risk” that customers might confuse the two entities, or think Establishment 203 has a direct connection or is under licence to the famous Sydney venue.
Stanbroke, owned by the Menegazzo family, is one of the largest privately-owned beef companies in the world, holding 200k head of cattle and around 1.2 million hectares in Queensland, where it is based.
Filing a defence to the accusations in March, the restaurant denied any attempt to cash in on the name, noting that Establishment 203 was chosen because it is the name of the Stanbroke abattoir in Grantham that supplies its product, which has been in operation since 1997.
Refusing to kowtow before the Sydney outfit, the restaurant responded by filing a counterclaim seeking to revoke Merivale’s trademark on Establishment, on the basis of a claim that it fails to meet a requirement for trademark registration, being to substantially distinguish its goods and services from those of other businesses.
Trademark law in Australia grants the holder ‘Exclusivity’ in its use, such that no-one else in Australia can commercially use it for the same goods or services.
However, the law also cedes issue with the trademarking of what it calls ‘everyday words, phrases or images’ that directly describe a good or service, suggesting these ‘should remain available for all businesses’.
It will be a matter for the courts to adjudicate on whether the word Establishment does not directly describe the mixed business that is undertaken on the George St site, thus making it eligible.
Meanwhile, an application to trademark Establishment 203 was submitted on 9 April.
A Federal Court hearing is scheduled on the matter for 3 September, and parties have been instructed to file evidence ahead of an upcoming preliminary hearing before Justice Ian Jackman in July.
This matter follows a recent without-admission settlement of a class action fronted by Adero Law over worker pay through a disputed WorkChoices era enterprise bargaining agreement. As reported in the AFR, Merivale is to stump up a lump sum payment of $18 million to cover all damages and costs, with around half of this expected to end up in the pockets of the lawyers and litigation funder.
The case has dragged on since 2019, and the proposed settlement needs Federal Court approval to proceed.
And possibly next in line for the Merivale legal team is the case of Totti, in Paris. The Italian-style restaurant sports a name and insignia uncannily like Hemmes’ successful Bondi eatery and franchise.
The venue was spotted by a Sydneysider in the French capital, who immediately recognised the similarity. Posted to Instagram, the lookalike prompted Justin Hemmes to tell Good Food “Don’t they say ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’? I’m not sure I agree with that.”
