Coffee entrepreneur Tony Bruce was surprised and amused when he received an official complaint about one of his Raglan Roast t-shirt designs. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage wrote to Tony late in 2013 advising him that his Raglan Roast surfing design was illegal as it could be confused with New Zealand’s official coat of arms. The Ministry said it had received complaints from members of the public about the Raglan Roast design. The Raglan Roast design is on their Hit me Bobo – Stamp t-shirt, which features a Maori warrior holding a surf board. New Zealand’s coat of arms has a Maori warrior holding a taiaha.
A spokesperson for the Ministry said they were looking forward to sitting down with Tony over a cup of coffee to sort it out. The word on Bow Street is that Raglanders are happy with the Raglan Roast design the way it is.
The issue was included in Television One’s evening news on 16th January giving wide coverage of Raglan Roast so we can expect the locally roasted coffee to be even more popular in future.
Watch it here: http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/coffee-maker-in-hot-water-over-t-shirt-design-video-5801547