KEY POINTS:
A descendant of Auckland's Subritzky sea-transport dynasty says an Australian-owned ferry company is trying to stop him using his own name in business.
Brett Subritzky, half owner of Waiheke Shipping, says SeaLink Travel Group New Zealand is seeking an interim injunction to prevent him from using the Subritzky name in connection with his commercial activities.
SeaLink's South Australian-based parent company bought Subritzky Shipping in 2004. Subritzky Shipping was founded by Brett Subritzky's grandparents Bert and Mona, and had operated on the Hauraki Gulf for nearly 50 years.
Brett was operations manager of the company but had no financial interest in it, he said.
SeaLink has expanded the business and now provides tourist, passenger, vehicle transport and freight services around the islands of the gulf.
In April 2005, Brett Subritzky set up Waiheke Shipping in competition with SeaLink, providing vehicle transport services to Waiheke Island, freight services around the gulf, and charters.
Mr Subritzky is stunned by this week's High Court action.
"My family has had a presence for six generations on the harbour. I'm the sixth-generation master mariner.
"They're obviously not very happy that we set up in opposition to them. The bottom line is I think that they're trying to make me stop using my name."
The company had objected to a short history of the Subritzky family on the Waiheke Shipping website, he said. It had also written to him complaining about the raising of a flag bearing the Subritzky family crest outside Waiheke Shipping's Half Moon Bay offices on the day Sir Edmund Hillary died.
Another point at issue was the apparent highlighting in yellow of the name on the Waiheke Shipping vessel H.A. Subritzky, named after Brett's grandfather.
When SeaLink took over Subritzky Shipping, the company was initially named Subritzky SeaLink. However that was changed to SeaLink Travel Group New Zealand in July last year.
Three defendants are named in the action - Waiheke Shipping; Subritzky Line, which Mr Subritzky said was a shelf company; and Brett Subritzky himself.
Mr Subritzky left the then Subritzky SeaLink following an employment dispute. He claimed constructive dismissal over a change in his job description and was paid out, he said. He had worked alongside his cousin, Michael Moore, at Subritzky SeaLink.
Mr Moore is still a director of SeaLink Travel Group New Zealand. Mr Subritzky said the two were not in contact.
Mr Moore and SeaLink's local general manager, Donna Gauci, declined to comment to the Herald.
WHO'S WHO
* The Subritzky family ran a shipping business on the Hauraki Gulf for nearly 50 years.
* In 2004 an Australian company bought the business and started using the name.
* Now Brett Subritzky, a grandson of the founders, wants to use the name for his rival business.
