Kaumatua Henare Kani said his hapū trademarked the world's longest place name a long time ago and this isn't the first infringement.
Kaumatua Henare Kani said his hapū trademarked the world's longest place name a long time ago and this isn't the first infringement.
Temu has removed T-shirts from sale after a hapū of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi pointed out it owned the trademark.
The T-shirts featured the world’s longest place name – Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.
The name translates to the summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, the slider, climber of mountains, theland-swallower who travelled about, played his flute to his loved one.
It’s the name of a hill near Pōrangahau, south of Waipukurau, in southern Hawke’s Bay in the Ngāti Kahungunu rohe.
The name had previously been trademarked, and also given a cultural mark alongside other Ngati Kahungunu taonga.
Kaumatua Henare Kani said it is not the first time unauthorised merchandise has appeared online featuring the intellectual property of his iwi.
He said his niece wrote directly to Temu requesting they take down the “unauthorised” shirts, and sent an infringement notice.
The unauthorised t-shirt selling on Temu was quickly taken offline when the hapū pointed out it owns the trademark.
“Temu was good and when my niece raised the issue with them, they said they were just the platform and contacted the suppliers and took the t-shirts down,” Kani told the Herald.
Thank you for contacting Temu. We understand the inconvenience this may cause.
Regarding your concern about the reporting items, after thorough review, we have taken the necessary steps to remove the item in question. We appreciate your feedback and contribution to a safer shopping experience on Temu.
If you have any further questions or need assistance, please feel free to contact us.
Best regards, Temu Customer Service”
Kaumatua Henare Kani and his niece Peggy who wrote to Temu about the unauthorised t-shirts.
Kani said Temu is a multi-billion dollar international organisation which, like the Pōrangahau hapū, cares deeply about their brand.
“They don’t want negative publicity for their brand especially when it comes to cultural - whether it is Māori, Aboriginal or wherever - Temu is very aware of that,” Kani said.
A Facebook post to the Pōrangahau to update them on the unauthorised t-shirts.
“Temu acknowledged our trademark and also our Ngati Kahungunu cultural mark and were very cooperative.”
In a post to the Pōrangahau community Facebook page it said: “Thank you to those who posted links to Temu and Spreadshirt. We didn’t waste anytime on this and held a hui with our advisory group.
“Emails were sent to Temu and Spreadshirt followed by infringement notices and products were taken down immediately.
“Fortunately this is not our first rodeo when dealing with cultural misappropriation for Te Taumata but its always alarming when giants like Temu start selling our taonga, not just with Te Taumata but anything to do with our Tūpuna or Māori culture.
Rotorua kuia Ellen Tamati was devastated after discovering her image was being used by a political lobby group to promote a cause she opposes. Photo / Aukaha News
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu was trademarked many years ago, Kani said.
“Originally it was because someone at the pub wanted to make Taumata beer and that caused a ruckus.
“We just want to make sure anything that uses that name has a reasonable amount of integrity.
“We invite people to come to us first.”
Joseph Los’e joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.
