Fighting on behalf of “all Australians” for the right to use the term ‘Ugg’ for the iconic boots, Mr Oygur says he has already spent close to $3 million defending a case launched by US giant footwear company Deckers Outdoor but refuses to give in to them.
“This big corporation, they think they are going to come here and bully me? Don’t forget I’m an Auburn boy,” he said.
“They have treated us like common criminals.”
He added that the lack of support from the Federal Government throughout the five-year legal battle, has been “the biggest disappointment”.
The saga began in 2016 when just 13 pairs of boots were ordered via his Australian Leather website and shipped to the US.
Deckers then successfully sued Mr Oygur and his company, claiming ownership of the Ugg trademark and seeking to seize all of his stock and bank accounts, with the American court hitting him with a $450,000 fine plus legal fees of about $3.5 million Australian.
But an appeal against the initial ruling was launched and last week, the case was heard by the Federal Appeals Court in Washington DC with a decision likely to take a couple of months.
Deckers claim is that, with the exception of Australia and New Zealand, it owns the worldwide rights to the term, however Mr Oygur and his legal team including former Australian senator Nick Xenophon, argued that Ugg is a generic term, widely used here.
