A trademark war has broken out between Network TEN and SBS over who owns the right to use the word “ONE” -and TEN is on the backfoot according to some experts.
SBS spells the word SBS ONE rather than the digit as used by ABC1 while ONE and ONE HD have been used as the name of TEN’s digital sports channel for around 12 months.
A TEN spokeswoman said. ”We have opposed it from the outset on the basis that we believe it’s confusing for viewers, given the pre-existing brand for our digital sports channel, which features the word ONE.”
But IP Australia says the word “One” is too generic and that it lacked distinctiveness.
”The use of the letters SBS or use of SBS’s logo in association with the words ONE and ONE HD are distinctive enough to ensure viewers aren’t confused,” an SBS spokeswoman told the Sydney Morning Herald. ”The content on the channels in question is also distinctive enough not to cause confusion. Many broadcasters use numbers to identify different digital channels and Ten did not have sole proprietary rights to use the terms either ‘ONE’ or ‘ONEHD’.”
Intellectual property lawyer, Trevor Choy, said ”I would have thought that the SBS logo was a very strong part of the marques, and in fact far stronger than the word ONE could ever be for Network TEN.”
TEN now has three months to file evidence to support its claim.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Ten got there first- simple as that. You snooze you lose SBS. Waste of time and taxpayer money.
I also fail to see why SBS has to name their channel SBS ONE HD when SBS HD would suffice- especially given there is no SBS TWO HD.
One hd has a place it just dosen’t need to be on 2 and occasionally 3 channels when 10 show sport such as the Superbowel 2013 can’t come quick enough in that regard.
It’s kind of funny that the broadcasters are so wedded to their numerals. One HD and 7TWO don’t work for regional Australia. In my neck of the woods, it’s channels 50 and 62 respectively. A bit of a nonsense really. It also gives you “7TWO on Prime” – the most obtrusive watermark ever.
Would “TEN Sports HD” be a more appropriate name for ONE HD?
Still waiting for that channel to arrive in Darwin. I might as well take advantage of the new federal government digital satellite service given the local stations cannot be trusted to provide additional services. I already have the equipment to take advantage of the new satellite service.
Stan wrote:
I actually think SBS ONE & HD watermarks are too hard to see now.
Wow, are you the person who actually looks at them? I notice that SBS has actually had one letter in the past 5 years to say they liked the watermarks. (Guess how many letters were against it, even before it began?)
TV1 on Foxtel should sue them both, as they used the name one before FTA even though about digital multi-channels.
Stan,
I think Laurie is getting at SBS creating this arts channel for Foxtel and Ovation basically being shafted, how they could use the budget this replacement channel will be getting. We’ll see how good it is and how much of Ovation’s programming they will have if/when Ovation closes. We still have not been told why it was replaced, I think we deserve an explanation. Than the usual spin.
Laurie (4:40pm),
Both Foxtel & Austar are paying SBS to set up STVDIO (their new arts channel), so don’t worry about your precious tax payers money. Yet, I’m not sure about this possible court case being filed against SBS. But just remember about half of their revenue comes from advertising & other network sales.
Tell me, Laurie: Does the tax payer fund your court cases? And if not, who shouldn’t be funded & who should?
One HD was named so by TEN for several reasons, first it’s ch1 on the digital dial and 2nd they want to market it as the ONE place to go for all you FTA sports in HD!
I don’t think there is really anyone who is going to get the 2 channels mixed up.
So is the tax payer going to fund SBS court case!! especially when in a few months they have to setup an Arts channel for Foxtel to replace Ovation
laurie
I understand where Ten and One are coming from, the first time i saw SBS ONE HD, felt like little bit of a copy but really it is too generic to do anything about it, the SBS logo is enough
Simple. Ten’s One should use lowercase, SBS’s One with upper.
Either that, or Ten should just try to use a different “play” on One. (Won)
It’s like the McDonalds vs MacDonalds case a while ago. Just pointless in my opinion.
Have to agree with DanDans.
I assume this is the reason why the SBS ONE & SBS ONE HD watermarks have been massively reduced in size in the last six months, while SBS TWO’s watermark remains in the original size? If that’s the case, TEN should just be grateful SBS even went to that much effort! I actually think SBS ONE & HD watermarks are too hard to see now.
LMAO at DansDans comment below!
The funniest part of the whole thing is that there are so many people on here who really have no idea what they are on about, and who dont understand the article, who have made derogatory comments about TEN and ONE HD just because they dont like ONE HD. For god sakes people, look past your stupid hatred for a channel and see what this is about.. and its not about your dislike of ONE.
This site was better two years ago when the comments were more from people who knew what they were on about rather than the 20-to-1 and Two and Half Men fans that litter the comment boards now…
I don’t get why there is so much hate for the ONE HD brand. Personally I think ten made a great decision in going with seperate branding for their second channel. The logo looks awesome, and it really does feel like a separate channel, as opposed to an extension of an existing channel. I mean, Ten Sport is soo, so unoriginal and im sure the same people criticising Ten for name their second channel OneHD, would then be criticising Ten for being unoriginal and afraid of establishing a new brand, by calling it Ten Sports.
I mean, come on, how unoriginal is 7Two, ABC2, ABC 3 and sbs two? Ten and nine are the only ones willing to step out and build a new brand from the ground up, rather than relying on an existing one.
It’s not so much SBS one that people get confused with, rather sbs ONE HD, which simply has a small sbs water mark, followed by ONE HD in large letters. I have been confused by this before, when sbs plays sort on their channel.
Lets all face facts – ONE was a collossal mistake
@guanolad, good point, when ONE first came out i heard many people ask what is this ONE about, i’m sure that no one would have been asking that if it was called TenSport.
i’m sure people can tel the difference between the world SBSONE and ONE
let it go too be honest. this might be worse than some drongo suing men at work for their great song i come from a land down under. i wouldn’t be surprised if 1 more fta station put on a sports channel in the future
If they can find even a single instance of anybody confusing the channels because of their “similarity” in name, I would be incredibly surprised, and somewhat suspicious.
I think Ten’s biggest problem is that the name they chose doesn’t tell those who are new to digital TV what the channel is about. How about calling it “Ten Sports HD,” did that occur to anybody in their marketing department?
Welcome to June 2009, Ten. Did you only just realise that SBS is using the word “one”? And anyway, the word “one” is far too broad to be copyrighted.
Although I must admit that SBS One HD could be a little confusing for some of the least enlightened, what with “SBS” in extremely light type and “ONE HD” in bold. Ten shouldn’t have given their sports channel such a broad name in the first place because it isn’t descriptive at all and they couldn’t not expect other networks to use the word too.
TEN Won is a better name.
@Dr TV: The reason why it’s called One is because it is broadcast on digital channel 1 (in the capital cities)
Wow i guess i misunderstood that its TEN thats complaining about SBS ONE, jeeze, that even more stupid than SBS complaining.
I’m with SBS on this. Ten can’t claim ownership of the word “one”. That being said, I do think that SBS 1 and SBS HD would look better.
memo to Network Ten :
Focus on your declining ratings instead of this nonsense. I doubt the fact that both have One in their names is confusing viewers. People are clever enough to work out the difference between the two channels. One shows truck racing from Idaho and the other shows Uzbekistan News
Why they didn’t just call it TEN Sports is beyond me, One HD is a nothing name.
Ridiculous. ONEHD is known as TEN’s sport channel. SBS ONEHD is just confusing. Plus, ONEHD is on Channel 1. They may as well be saying SBS GO!
Not confusing at all especially on the Foxtel satelite TV Guide. By the way when are they going on there? Would love it anytime soon.
You know straight away when watching SBS One that is not an exclusive sports channel.
What a croc. Only the lawyers win out of this one. We all know the difference between Ten and SBS. However, for those who think one sd is one hd, it’s prob cos they thought only SBS filled their hours with mindless overseas sport.
Come on SBS, as much as i hate the content on ONE, your claim is baseless, youd have to be pretty stupid to confuse SBS ONE and ONE, of course sbs should have called it SBS1 to start with.
All 10 should have to say is Its digital Channel 1 and 10 uses the word rather than number to refer to their channels (unlike 7 and 9), therefore they have more right to use it than SBS does.
This is even more stupid than the Larrikin vs Men At Work copyright suit.
OMG TEN, do you really think viewers can’t tell the difference between SBS ONE and “one HD” (except maybe on Sunday afternoon when SBS ONE has superior sports anyway)?
Apple -v- Woolworths?
Save your money TEN. You lawyers will be the only winners.
I originally thought the “one HD” branding was stupid from the beginning as it has no association with “TEN”.
I always thought One sounded like a stupid name for a sports channel.
I think the only reason Ten chose to use One for One HD was so they could be seen as being the first channel. Similar to when a business calls themselves AAAA in the phone directory so they can be on top of the listings. I hope common sense prevails so that SBS can keep using One.
Seeing as more people like SBS One over OneHD, it doesn’t really matter. Anyway I think even the bogans can work out the difference between darts and a French film.
ONE HD is more a brand and it’s also the channels number, where as SBS ONE HD is not IMO But which one has used it the longest? I would have thought TENs ONE HD?
To be perfectly honest, while I believe that the word One is too generic to copy right, I have on more the one occasion, while channel flicking, been confused by sbs ONE HD and ONE HD, which is why I think sbs should do the respectful thing and at least change the name of their HD channel to simply sbsHD, as abc has done.
I agree with SBS. Their watermark always appears with the SBS logo and then ONE (HD). Additionally, to receive ONE (the sports channel), you need a digital box / built in digital tuner, which ensures you won’t hit the wrong channel by mistake.
Perhaps TEN (or ONE) should spend some money on decent programming rather than this sort of crap…
SBS ONE & ONE HD sound distinctive to me.
TEN spokeswoman said. ”We have opposed it from the outset on the basis that we believe it’s confusing for viewers…”
In other words, TEN believes their typical viewer is a moron.
My first thought when I was reading this was “Since when has anyone been able to own the rights to a word like one” It’s just stupid for Ten to have thought they had any case her. And do they honestly think the audience are that stupid? Given all the information your given as soon as you change the channel (Channel name and number, EPG, etc) as well as the distinct SBS logo next to the ONE how can anybody mistake SBS One for ONE