Late last year LIWA Aquatics members were informed that the National Office of Royal Life Saving had attempted to Trademark the word "Lifeguard" across a range of categories.  The aquatic industry nationally received assurances from the CEO of RLSSA Rob Bradley that there was no intent t to impact on local government's ability to use the word "Lifeguard" on uniforms and in position description and as such the status quo would be maintained.

Subsequent to this Surf Life Saving Australia has been successful in trade marking "Lifeguard" but has made the following comments  "What we've done is trademarked a range of different things like T-shirts, water bottles, sun shades and beach towels that the name can be used on.  SLSA said it sought the ruling to protect the financial interests of legitimate water safety organisations and has no plans to charge for the use of "lifeguards".  SLSA boss Peter George told AAP.

We  Don't Want to Loose This Image!

In the long term the likelihood of there being any impact on aquatic recreation facilities across Australia would be minimal.  There would be no advantage to either Surf Life or Royal Life Saving to be at loggerheads with Local Governments.  Most of the infrastructure and all of the aquatic facilities that these organisations use are in the main provided by Local Governments Authorities.

Below is correspondence that one of our industry counterparts in the Eastern States received from RLSSA Rob Bradley in January this year.

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