Save Our Aussie Icon - The Great Australian Ugg Boot

Issue 5 - The Australian Sheepskin Association Supporters Newsletter

Monday 31 May 2004

Dear supporter,

Well this is a long overdue newsletter but you can be assured that lots of things have been happening behind the scenes since the last one.  And a great big welcome to our new supporters.  You'll be interested to know that we are speeding towards our goal of 50,000 supporters on our newsletter list which is fantastic news.

Thanks also for those of you who have donated to the fighting fund.  For those of you who haven't but would like to, details are at the foot of this newsletter.

One of the big things that has been happening behind the scenes is the research and collection of evidence in support of our claim to the generic terms ugg and ugg boots (in all spellings).  As you can appreciate, this is an onerous task as we are specifically looking for information in Australia before 1971 and information in the United States before 1981.  However, it is proving fruitful and this is where you, our supporters, come in.  We would like to ask for your help in finding the following sorts of information in the date ranges above:

  • Newspaper advertisements
  • Magazine advertisements (in particular surfing magazines, general interest magazines such as Pix, People, Womens Weekly, etc.)
  • Editorials that mention ugg boots (any spelling) - often these were associated with surfing stories.
  • Letters to the editor
  • Old receipts that are dated
  • Photographs that can be easily dated. For example if they appear in books which have a publication date prior to the years indicated above.

A lot of this information is kept on microfiche at your state library/s and in Australia, at the National Archives.  Those of you who have old magazine collections - particularly surfing magazines - would be well placed in helping us with this quest.

If you locate anything which mentions ugg, ugh or ugg boots, then we ask that you email a scan with relevant information such as publication, publication date, page number, type of evidence, title (if appropriate) and any other useful information through our contact us form or alternatively,  send a photocopy to our Ugg Boot Archivists:  Uggs-N-Rugs, 9 Royal Street, Kenwick, Western Australia, 6107.

Some of the most interesting information is coming out of the United States.  Some of the US evidence is from 1970 which is more than a decade prior to any trademarks mentioning ugg (or other spellings) there.  The material refers to Australian ugg boots. It certainly makes a "mockery" of the claim that "ugg" was not used in the trade or industry prior to the 1980's in the United States!

Of interest to our research quest too, is background on the World War I sheepskin flying boots known as "fug boots". Any information related to these would be most welcome.

We are also keen to locate anyone who was involved in the industry prior to 1971 in Australia and 1981 in the US.  We've tracked down lots (and we mean lots) but as they say, "The more the merrier".  Such people can contact us through our contact us form too.  

Our Industry Association is growing weekly with new members coming on board which is also great news. 

Various politicians have been helping us with a number of NSW government labor MP's wearing their ugg boots to work (6 May) calling upon the federal government to stop Deckers hijacking our icon.  NSW Small Business Minister David Campbell led the charge there.  Ms Sharryn Jackson (Member for Hasluck) has also been working her 'boots' off to help too.  And The Hon John Howard, Prime Minister, recently requested a dossier of our battle and we look forward to hearing back from him soon.  These and other ministers are showing support so we thank you all very much and encourage you to help us find a prompt and satisfactory solution.

The "Non-Use" action on the oldest Australian mark should have seen Deckers provide evidence in support of their side earlier this month.  Instead, they requested an extension.  Wouldn't you think that if there was strong evidence supporting their use of the trademark, they would have simply provided it instead of asking for an extension?  We see the lack of such evidence to date as a promising sign of an impending victory for us.

That just about wraps it up.  As promised, the details for sending donations to our "Fighting Fund" follow:

Save the Aussie Ugg Fighting Fund
Australian Sheepskin Association
c/- Westhaven
PO Box 4695
DUBBO EAST 2830
Australia

Or

Deposit at any Westpac Branch or through Internet banking
Save the Aussie Ugg Fighting Fund, Australian Sheepskin Association Incorporated
Westpac Greenhills NSW 2323 Australia
BSB: 032639
A/C: 137039

We thank you for your support and will keep you advised of developments.  Please help us grow our supporters list by forwarding this email to your friends, family and colleagues and encouraging them to visit our website at https://www.SaveOurAussieIcon.com and adding their details to our mailing list.

Thanking you

Australian Sheepskin Association Incorporated