Sydney, Aug 28: World and Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe yesterday beat off a legal challenge from a sportswear company to continue using his nickname Thorpedo on a range of products.
Sporting company Torpedoes Sportswear took action in the federal court here against Thorpedo Enterprises, a company owned by Thorpe's parents Kenneth and Margaret, over who owns the trademark.

Torpedoes Sportswear claimed the names were too similar and confusion would result. It also said Torpedoes Sportswear was well established and had once supplied sportswear to the St George National Rugby League.
But in her judgment Justice Annabelle Bennett did not agree the names were sufficiently close to confuse consumers.
"(Torpedoes) has not established that the Thorpedo mark is substantially identical to the mark Torpedoes, nor that Torpedoes had acquired a reputation in Australia, nor that because of its reputation, the use of the Thorpedo mark would be likely to deceive or cause confusion," she said in her decision.



Outside the court, Thorpe's lawyer John Cannings said his client was looking forward to launching a range of products which included sportswear, food, drink and business administration with the trademark.



"Ian is obviously delighted with the judgment, he is looking forward to commencing the commercial use of the name Thorpedo," Cannings said.



"He has a number of products coming out in a range of areas and the use of Thorpedo vindicates, I think, the admiration that Ian has taken in the Australian limelight."



The Thorpes applied to register the trademark five years ago and Torpedoes, which launched in 1992, began legal action almost four years ago.



The 200m,400m and 800m freestyle world record-holder won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze at last month's Barcelona World Championships to take his career world title medal tally to 11.


Bureau Report