Bods battling it out
It’s Finch v Instagram star in trademark fight
IT’S the battle of the bods as former Miss Universe Australia Rachael Finch shapes up against a Gold Coast fitness model in a trademark legal fight.
Finch is releasing a brand of activewear called B.O.D. online and through Myer stores early next year.
But Gold Coast-based Instagram star Sophie Guidolin says she has already trademarked the word “bod”.
Finch, 29, won the first round of the legal battle yesterday in Federal Court when Justice Nye Perram dismissed an urgent injunction brought by Guidolin to stall the March launch of her range.
The court heard Guidolin, 28, has used the name The Bod for her online fitness and nutrition programs and branded leggings and bikinis.
Her lawyer Dauid Sibtain told Justice Perram his client is known as The Bod by 64,000 Instagram followers.
The court heard that when Finch began using the trademark BOD, Guidolin was quick to declare it already taken. In September, she got Finch to sign an undertaking she would not use the name.
Mr Sibtain said Finch’s activewear range breaches that pact, and will mislead consumers into thinking the clothing is associated with Guidolin.
Finch’s lawyer Peter Wallis said Finch had removed all references to BOD in relation to her fitness services on her website and social media pages but she was entitled to use the name, standing for Body of Dance, on her activewear. He said there was “no mention of clothing” in the carefully worded agreement.
The court heard Finch was already selling her B.O.D. activewear online and large quantities of stock were branded and ready to ship.
Mr Wallis said the urgent injunction would have the effect of “shutting down the whole business”. The case returns to court next month.