Pub owner a gatecrasher says browned-off insurer

By JO-MARIE BROWN

A Cambridge publican has been told to change the name of his bar by 2 pm on Thursday or AMI Insurance will take him to court.

But Dean Risi insists that a party at Kelly Browne's Place, the name of his new Empire St establishment, will go ahead despite the threat of legal action.

The insurance company's "Kelly Browne" advertising campaign, where a girl holds a party while her parents are away, was launched in 1998.

The name has become synonymous with New Zealand parties and Mr Risi said it captured the fun atmosphere he hoped to recreate in his new bar.

But AMI is unimpressed and has threatened to seek an interim injunction and damages if Mr Risi does not cease to use the name and remove all signs by the deadline - two hours before the pub is due to open for business.

Mr Risi remains adamant that he is legally entitled to use the name and says the bar will definitely open.

"I don't see how us naming the bar can damage their reputation. They're making a mountain out of a molehill and I'm prepared to take it as far as I can," he said.

AMI's lawyers, Shieff Angland, issued a warning to Mr Risi on April 4 claiming that the bar's name would mislead people into thinking AMI approved or was somehow associated with the bar and thereby supported the sale of liquor.

"One of the points of the [Kelly Browne] campaign was to highlight the risks of teenagers' drinking," the lawyers' letter said.

However, Mr Risi's lawyer, Ian Finch, said the name Kelly Browne was not a registered trademark and because she was a fictional character, AMI did not have a case.

Intellectual property lawyer John Hackett agreed that AMI was unlikely to prove in court that the public thought the company was associated with the bar.

"It seems pretty far-fetched."

AMI's executive manager customer support, Alan Perry, said the company believed it did have a copyright to Kelly Browne and would make every effort to protect the name which it wished to build on in future.