Canberra's own Tim the Yowie Man has felt more than a few shivers down his spine as the re-booted Yowie chocolates return to supermarket shelves.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Back in 2004, Tim won a David-and-Goliath legal battle against the then maker of the Yowie chocolates, Cadbury Schweppes, which wanted to prevent him from trademarking his Tim the Yowie Man name.
The confectionary giant claimed then that children might confuse Tim the Yowie Man with one of its chocolate creations. That didn't wash with the courts, who found in favour of Tim.
But it was a kind of sour rather than sweet success for him. The court battle cost Tim "tens of thousands of dollars and years of heartache".
"Sadly, in trademark cases - at least when my case was happening - even if you win you don’t get your legal costs paid," Tim told us.
"That’s why a lot of big companies pick on little guy - hoping the little guy will just pull out."
Now, there appears to be a more than passing reference to Tim the Yowie Man in the marketing for the latest version of the Yowie chocolates in the Ranger series. It features a character in an akubra. Shades of Tim the Yowie Man anyone? Is it a naughty dig at their chief niggler?
"I’ve been getting lots of messages from people saying this ‘ranger yowie’ looks like a bit like me … cheeky," Tim said.
"At least they didn’t call it a ‘Cryptonaturalist Yowie’.''
The Yowie chocolates are now distributed by the Yowie Group based in Perth. Its listed phone number doesn't work. We've sent an email. Stay tuned.
