No comeback for Maori in name wrangle (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Tuesday, 26 June 2007
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4107745a11.html

No comeback for Maori in name wrangle

Iwi angry at a French company using the name Maori Group to provide
bodyguards and other security services may just have to live with it, says
Prime Minister Helen Clark.

The Maori Party has taken offence at the firm, owned by a rugby-mad former
French paratrooper Frederic Giqueaux who said he came up with the name
after a long, boozy night with army buddies.

Party co-leader Pita Sharples said he would ask Clark to stand up and
protect the name of New Zealand's indigenous people with the same
enthusiasm she has shown for the America's Cup or the All Blacks.

She sought advice yesterday from the Ministry of Economic Development, which
deals with intellectual-property issues, but had been told there was no
mechanism for redress.

"This is one of many examples of international businesses exploiting
indigenous culture in order to promote their own products and services,"
Clark said.

"It is clearly, in their view, a misappropriation of Maori culture for
commercial gain. It creates an association between Maori and their
commercial business.

"The problem is there are not international mechanisms in place which can
address this issue right now. So there is no international mechanism which
could provide redress for Maori."

Clark said existing domestic law would stop the trademark being registered
in New Zealand and officials were in discussions at the World Intellectual
Property Organisation over developing an international instrument.

Maori Group is a multinational security company owned by 41-year-old All
Blacks fan Giqueaux, a Corsican.

The company employs more than 700 staff and has branches in four countries –
Maori France, Maori Belgium, Maori Italy, Maori Morocco and a specialist
close-protection VIP service called Maori Limousines.

Staff uniforms feature the Maori name and a carved shield backdrop.

Lincoln University Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Maori) Hirini Matunga said it
was totally inappropriate for Giqueaux to be appropriating the word Maori
for his own gain.

"He has absolutely no right to do that. It's a good example of what can
happen without appropriate mechanisms in place."

Former CEO of the Maori Language Commission, Haami Piripi, said Maori had
been struggling for years to gain control of their intellectual and
cultural property rights to prevent situations like this.

A "sustained flow of submissions" on the issue had received little
government response.

"So people like this Corsican seize upon anything that they desire that has
within it the integrity of our ancestry and nationhood and use it for their
commercial gain," said Piripi.

Giqueaux said the name Maori embodied everything the company stood for –
"tough, but peaceful".

He came up with the name after a boozy dinner with his paratroop rugby team.

"The fly-half was under the table, and said: what about Maori?"

Giqueaux thought Maori were primitive warriors and "very strong, very tough,
and very rustic – like me".

He had not asked permission from Maori leaders to use the name or logo
design.

When told that Maori took the use of the name and their intellectual
property rights seriously, Giqueaux suggested organising a meeting to gain
appropriate approvals.

Piripi said if Maori were shown the proper level of respect, they could
enter into some kind of relationship with Giqueaux.

"We are open to quality relationships with anybody. But what is really
offensive is that we are all out on our own with no protection or support."

Giqueaux said he hoped one day to add Maori New Zealand to the group "if the
New Zealand people accept me".

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