Owen Dean, trademark specialist at legal firm Spoor & Fisher, looked up trademark registration numbers that were supplied Thursday by the department and found them to be invalid.
That followed more than two months of unanswered enquiries directed at Stofile’s spokesperson, Lerato Mogorosi.
Beeld made the enquiries following an invitation by Stofile after a meeting on November 18 last year between the minister, his deputy Gert Oosthuizen and Saru’s Oregan Hoskins and Mark Alexander.
It was decided at the meeting to move the Springbok emblem from the left of the jersey to make place for the Protea as national sport emblem.
Stofile then claimed the government are actually the rightful owners of the emblem and there were rumours that the department would claim royalties for Saru’s “illegal” use of the emblem.
“I can give you the registration numbers,” Stofile said at the time. “We own the emblem. It was registered for the small Bok, the big Bok, the Bok jumping to the right, the Bok jumping to the left …”
Spoor & Fisher said in a statement then they and two other firms specialising in trademarks could not find any evidence of government ownership.
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