CHH hypocritical, court told

By PAM GRAHAM

Carter Holt Harvey, suing diminutive rival Cottonsoft for labelling foreign-sourced toilet tissue New Zealand made, is guilty of hypocrisy, the High Court in Auckland heard yesterday.

Carter Holt contends that Cottonsoft should not label toilet paper made from imported paper as made in New Zealand.

Furthermore, the packaging of Cottonsoft's Kiwisoft brand, which has a Kiwi in a rugby jersey prominently displayed, suggests to the average consumer that the product is made in New Zealand.

But Bill Wilson, QC, representing Cottonsoft, said Carter Holt sold table napkins in Australia labelled as "Made in Australia" when they are made from paper imported from either New Zealand or Sweden.

He said the court should not grant an injunction because Cottonsoft had been using the labels for years and Carter Holt had taken the action only when it had lost market share.

Justice Rhys Harrison has reserved his judgment. He said the case had complicated issues and consequences for the parties involved. He indicated that if he found in favour of Carter Holt he was likely to seek undertakings from Cottonsoft, rather than issue an injunction.

The case traversed issues such as consumer perceptions of a manufacturing process, whether a Kiwi symbol indicated the origin of a product, or the origin of the company that made it, and examined the behaviour of average consumers.

Cottonsoft offered to write "Made in New Zealand from imported tissue" but the plaintiff was concerned that if the words were not as prominently displayed as the Kiwi logo a misleading impression would still be left with consumers too busy to read everything on packaging.

New Zealand-owned Cottonsoft imports jumbo rolls of paper and cuts them into smaller rolls as well as embossing, printing, scenting and perforating the paper.