In Australia, and many other countries as well, Ugg boots (also spelt ug and ugh) are a style of boots that has been used generically for well over a hundred years.  In 1984, an Australian formed an USA based company and managed to trademark this generic term. When asked by the USA federal trademark office's examiner, Susan Heller, on March the 7th 1986  "What is the significance of the term ugg?"  She was told under oath that "There is no significance of the term UGG in the relevant trade or industry."  This is despite the fact that many years prior; ugg, ug, and ugh were all generic terms for sheepskin boots and were so much a part of popular culture, they were referenced in Australian dictionaries.  

While generic terms can be snuck into the federal trademark office, the law is quite clear that generic terms can't be protected in any legal court anywhere in the world. Despite this, Deckers Outdoor Corporation and their subsidiary, UGG Holdings Inc. have been threatening legal action against companies that continue to use the generic words to describe the Australian icon, ugg boots.  

Many livelihoods are being threatened by Decker's campaign which could only be described as another example of a giant corporation intent on monopolizing an industry that was never theirs to own in the first place. The difference here is that UGG was questionably allowed to go through the trademark process. But this does not mean the trademark cannot be challenged and ultimately, overturned - something that we intend on doing through a variety of methods.

In a recent article in "The Sunday Telegraph", it was reported that Westhaven Industries, a non-profit organization, which employs 65 intellectually disabled people to make ugg boots at its factory in Dubbo, Australia, have also been threatened with legal action. 

"We have been selling sheepskin products for 30 years, long before ugg boots became trendy in America, and to have to give up the name is just ridiculous," Mr. Sullivan, production manager, said.

"It's like registering the name sneakers � it's a generic term that everyone uses."

Needless to say that the recent threats and legal harassment from UGG Holdings Inc. and its parent company Deckers Outdoor Corporation has outraged not only the dozens of manufactures, some whom have been making ugg boots since 1933, but the Australian public as well, many whom are now boycotting all of Deckers' other lines including Simple, Teva, and of course UGG Australia which are now made in China. 

This is simply not fair dinkum.  How can a company take a generic word or phrase, trademark it and then claim it for their own?  

Thank you,

The Australian sheepskin ugg boot manufacturers and retailers
https://www.saveouraussieicon.com