Dick Smith wins OzeMite trademark suit

Australian businessman Dick Smith has won a court appeal over his OzeMite spread trademark feud with Adelaide brand Aussie Mite.

A Sydney Federal Court judge on Friday allowed Mr Smith's challenge to a decision by a delegate of the Registrar of Trademarks.

Anna Katzmann SC ordered the Aussie Mite owner to pay Mr Smith's legal costs.

Outside the court, Mr Smith told reporters justice had prevailed.

"It just seemed sensible to me that our OzeMite name, we came up with it first, and we should be allowed to keep it," he said.

"If we lost this we would have had to close down the business."

Mr Smith said Aussie Mite owner Roger Ramsay tried to strike OzeMite off the trademark register.

It was a shame he had to fight a fellow Australian company rather than a foreign company, he said.

Mr Smith lodged an application for the name OzeMite in October 1999, court documents say.

Mr Ramsay gave evidence that he instructed his label maker to change from Dinki-Dinemite to Aussie Mite in September 2000, knowing that Mr Smith was bringing out a product called OzeMite.