NRL wins early skirmish in battle over Chiefs name as parties prepare to ‘duke it out’ in court

The NRL has enjoyed a victory in round one of the code war over the PNG Chiefs name, with a judge turning down a bid by New Zealand Rugby for an urgent injunction after hearing that it could harm the expansion team’s efforts to attract players ahead of its debut season in 2028.

The dispute will now be thrashed out in full in a New Zealand courtroom early next year.

NZ Rugby had rushed to court ahead of the launch of the PNG team’s logo and jersey in Port Moresby next week, warning the brand value of rugby’s long-established Chiefs franchise would be “hugely damaged” by the NRL team’s use of the same name and the confusion that would arise as a result.

However, Justice Karen Grau rejected its injunction application following a two-hour hearing on Friday in New Zealand’s High Court in Wellington.

NZ Rugby’s barrister Earl Gray said it had trademark protections for the Chiefs in New Zealand and the NRL had been “negligent” by not bothering to check them.

“They’ve brought this issue on themselves and inexplicably, now want to get away with it,” he said. “They didn’t search, they didn’t check. They’ve thumbed their noses at New Zealand and its laws.”

The NRL argued its use of the Chiefs name in Australia and PNG was not in breach of New Zealand’s intellectual property law, and maintained it would be “next to impossible to rebrand at this point”.

Barrister Clive Elliott, appearing for the NRL, pointed to the competition’s upcoming free agency period and in which some of the game’s leading players will be available, describing it as “a critical time for the [PNG] team”.

The Chiefs are expected to embark on a recruitment spree when it kicks off on November 1, and Elliott said a ruling against the NRL on Friday could create doubt about the legitimacy of the club and its name that could hurt their prospects of securing their targets.

“In this environment, there is a real potential for this club to be set back irreparably,” he said. “If there is this cloud having over this new team, people are going to say, ‘Why would I move to Port Moresby when it’s under threat’?”