In light of recent news that a businessman in Florida has trademarked the word ‘bula’, the Fijian Government is laying the legal groundwork to contest the move on multiple fronts.
Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says that preparations are underway to lodge necessary documentation with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and confirms that the matter will also be raised with the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
Sayed-Khaiyum says government is, along with Fijians and friends of Fiji around the world, both shocked and outraged to hear of this blatant case of heritage-highjacking.
He says the government would never give permission for anyone, particularly someone outside of Fiji looking to profit, to effectively claim ownership of ‘bula’, a word so deeply-rooted in our national identity that it has become synonymous with Fiji itself.
Sayed-Khaiyum says the idea that a single person could control the use of a word so dear to the hearts of Fijians is offensive, it is tone-deaf, and it is wrong.
He says the government will fight this trademark with every power international law affords.
The Acting Prime Minister also says that previous governments were fully complicit in allowing foreign interests to get away with many trademarks dear to Fijians, including the name of our country. He says the days that Fiji sits quietly while corporate and personal interests try to take advantage of our ‘bula spirit’ are over.
