Pretoria - The Blue Bulls Company launched proceedings in the High Court in Pretoria against Danie Haasbroek, the manager and coach of the Vodacom BULLS BABES performers, as well as his close corporation, Jump Sport CC.

According to the Bulls' official website, the proceedings were necessitated by Haasbroek, who recently made the claim that his close corporation owns the BULLS BABES trade mark, which incorporates our well-known BULLS logo trade mark.

The BULLS BABES performers have been entertaining spectators at Loftus Versfeld for a number of years. At all times, the BULLS BABES performers used the BULLS BABES trade mark, as well as our BULLS logo trade mark, with the authority of and under licence from the Blue Bulls Company.

In a statement, the Blue Bulls Company stated:

"The Blue Bulls Company owns various trade mark registrations for its BULLS logo trade mark, dating back to 1999. We also filed various trade mark applications for the BULLS BABES logo trade mark during 2006, which incorporate our well-known BULLS logo trade mark. The BULLS BABES logo trade mark has therefore been used extensively by the BULLS BABES performers, with our permission.

"Mr Haasbroek’s recent claim that his close corporation owns the BULLS BABES trade mark, could not be left unchallenged by the Blue Bulls Company. Attempts were made to regularise the relationship with Mr. Haasbroek, in terms of which the BULLS BABES performers would have been entitled to continue to perform at Loftus (and other venues), in terms of a written license agreement between the Blue Bulls Company and Jump Sport CC. Mr. Haasbroek was, however, not prepared to sign the agreement authorizing his close corporation to use our BULLS BABES trade mark and indicated that, in his view, he is the owner of the trade mark. As a result, the Blue Bulls Company cancelled the (oral) agreement with Jump Sport CC.

"Our application to court was due to be heard on Friday, March 12, 2010. The Court did not consider the merits of the matter, but ruled that Mr Haasbroek and his close corporation were not afforded sufficient time to prepare an answer to our application. Accordingly, the matter will again be set down for hearing as soon as possible, once the matter has been allocated to a judge by the Deputy Judge President of the High Court in Pretoria.

"The Blue Bulls Company regrets that it was necessary to institute legal proceedings, but was forced to protect its valuable intellectual property rights as a result of Mr Haasbroek’s conduct."