Tara Ross, Sunday Star-Times, Wellington, New Zealand, 12 September 2004

A bid to trademark the All Black haka by descendants of the man who wrote it looks likely to fail because it may now simply belong to everybody.

More than five years after the South Island's Raukawa Trust-- representing Ngati Toa and other descendants of Ka Mate author Te Rauparaha--applied to trademark the haka, it appears to be struggling to provide evidence needed to claim his haunting words.

The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand (IPONZ) last week asked for more proof that the claimants have maintained control over the haka's use. If that is not provided by November 1, their application could lapse. At issue is the fact the haka is commonly used and if it is recognised as belonging to anyone, it is probably to the All Blacks rather than Ngati Toa. Lawyer Maui Solomon, who specialises in intellectual and cultural property rights, said it was possible the haka was now so much in use that not even Te Rauparaha could claim intellectual rights to it.

Wellington lawyer Peter Verboeket, who represents the Raukawa Trust applicants, has urged IPONZ to reconsider submissions made in 2002, which he said provided proof the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) has acknowledged Ngati Toa's ownership of the haka. But an NZRU spokesman said it had simply consulted Maori, not necessarily Ngati Toa, on how to improve the All Blacks' performance of the haka.

Oriwa Solomon, the Ngati Toa member who filed the trademark application in 1999 before handing it on to the trust, wants the union--and its sponsors--to set up an education trust or scholarship to make up for its use of Ka Mate. "They've had free use of it for 100 years," he told the Sunday Star-Times. "Why can't they give something back to the iwi?"

Yet Matiu Rei, executive director of the Ngati Toa iwi authority Te Runanga o Toa Rangatira, said the tribe had never had an issue with the All Blacks performing the haka--it was proud people wanted to perform it. Rei said the Raukawa trust was not the appropriate organisation to have made the trademark application. "Even within Ngati Toa there is dissent over whether it would belong to the descendants of Te Rauparaha or to the tribe as a whole. Not everybody (in the tribe) is a descendant of Te Rauparaha."

Associate Commerce Minister Judith Tizard said the issue was not one of protecting Maori rights, but protecting national icons. "The haka has become a national symbol."

Rei said the Raukawa Trust was not the appropriate organisation to have made the trademark application. "Even within Ngati Toa there is dissent over whether it would belong to the descendants of Te Rauparaha or to the tribe as a whole. Not everybody (in the tribe) is a descendant of Te Rauparaha."

Maui Solomon said there was pressing need for a process to protect Maori intellectual property rights, especially as more Maori symbols were exploited for commercial gain."We don't want a cultural police force, but we do need to make sure the cultural integrity is maintained and (there is) appropriate consultation and sharing of any commercial benefits."

Associate Minister of Commerce Judith Tizard said the issue was not necessarily one of protecting Maori rights, but one of protecting national icons. "My concern is that the haka has become a national symbol," she said. "We probably need at some stage to have a re-evaluation of all of those national symbols and how we protect them."

The government warned when the Ka Mate trademark application was lodged in 1998 that it would take action if it was successful.