Snakeman, Snakebusters, Snakeman Raymond Hoser:Snakebusters, Australia's best snake shows, based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Snakeman/Snakebusters wins $9,900 payout after IP breach.
Snakeman/Snakebusters
gets a $9,900 payout for IP breach.
Media release 3 June 2010.
This week, Australia's Snakeman, Raymond Hoser got a cash payout
of $9,900 after commencing legal proceedings over an IP (Intellectual Property)
breach. IP includes trademarks, trademarked phrases used to identify a
business, copyright and the like.
The legal action commenced after a group started defaming Hoser and his
Snakebusters business, including knowingly and deliberately making the
false and defamatiory claim that Hoser's world-first
devenomized snakes had regenerated venom and were now "dangerous"
and a risk.
With an inferior business without devenomized snakes being promoted instead,
Hoser sought to correct the false claims that were being widely disseminated
and causing his business and reputation to be harmed. After the perfectly
reasonable requests were denied, Hoser commenced legal action.
The cash settlement was accepted by Hoser as a means to bring potential
court battles to a stop. Had the matter gone to court, Hoser would probably
have won ten times the amount (minus the legal costs), however today Raymond
Hoser said "The court case would have distracted us from our world-leading
reptile education and we would prefer to engage in this without time wasted
elsewhere".
This is the third recent cash payout to Raymond Hoser/Snakebusters for
infringements of his trademarks and the like. One was for $39,500 after
a novice snakehandler called Bruce George used the Hoser trademark "Snakebuster"
and the other being for $9,000 for another breach.
Hoser and his companies owns and uses a number of coveted trademarks and
phrases, including Snakeman, the snake man, Snakebusters and variants,
and these phrases identify the following:
2- The fact that his company is the only one that does "hands on reptiles"
that allows people to hold the animals as opposed to touch only, and
3 - That Snakebusters are the only legal venomous snake show in Victoria,
because Snakebusters alone is guaranteed safe and fully in compliance with
Section 32 of the OH and S Act 2004, because Snakebusters are alone with
vet certified, microchipped surgically devenomized snakes in accordance
with state law.
We would prefer that newer entrants in the reptile education business raised
their standards and acted within the law, thereby allowing us not to worry
about having to take legal action for breaches." In another recent
development, aggrieved customers commenced action last month against a
newly licenced snakehandler who had been illegally doing venomous snake
shows and supposedly accredited venomous snake handling courses for the
last 18 months.
While Snakebusters/Raymond Hoser have had no part to play in these (currently
ongoing) proceedings, warnings against this particular operator had been
issued by Snakebusters/Raymond Hoser over the past 2 years and remain
on the Snakebusters and "Smuggled.com" websites. These warnings
against this and other snakehandlers were issued following false and defamatory
statements made against Snakebusters by this newly licenced operator in
a bid to steal business from Snakebusters.
In light of this recent development, it is worth noting that the only legal
venomous snake show in Victoria remains Snakebusters. Besides the obvious
safety risks inherant in any other show with snakes that are not devenomized,
people who allow such to take place will also be liable for prosecution
under work safety laws, even if a bite incident does not occur.
It is also common knowledge that reptile
displays without venomous snakes fail to attract crowds anywhere near those
that have venomous snakes, which is one reason why some of the fly-by-night
operators are taking risks and illegally demonstrating these snakes..
Further Information at: Snakebusters:
Phones: 03 9812 3322
0412 777 211
0411 959 455
Click here to return to the Snakebusters front page entry
Click here to return to the "smuggled.com"/Snakebusters legal statement
