Consumers have been lured by the promise of sustainable clothing from Byron Bay but some say the reality is cheap fast fashion. (Supplied)
In short:
Byron Bay businesses are frustrated that some companies are using the town's name despite no local connection.
The Byron Bay name has even been used by offshore 'ghost' stores, which only exist online.
What's next?
The Byron Bay Chamber of Commerce wants to protect the use of the Byron Bay brand, but a trademark lawyer says that can be difficult.
Byron Bay businesses are frustrated by the increasing number of companies using the name of the popular holiday destination to promote a wide array of products which have no relationship to the town.
The latest, an online "ghost" store promoting "sustainable" Byron Bay fashion, is creating a wave of anger among Australian consumers and local businesses in the iconic tourist town.
It has the former Byron Shire mayor and former NSW Greens MP Jan Barham seeing red.
"It's fast fashion, it's coming from China, it's got no relationship to Byron Bay and certainly brings no benefit to Byron in terms of jobs or employment and makes a mockery of using the term sustainability."
Some customers have been unhappy with the quality of the clothing they received from online ghost stores. (ABC News: Elloise Farrow-Smith)
Leaving customers in the cold
Ghost or 'dark stores' are online businesses that only exist in a digital sense with no physical storefront.
But the lack of a physical location can leave customers out in the cold when it comes to the issue of consumer rights, making it difficult to return faulty products.
Byron Bay Boutique and its sister site, Double Bay Boutique, do not claim to be located in either place, but both sites feature shots of Byron's famed beaches and claims to be an "Australian brand" bringing you "the relaxed, coastal vibes of Byron Bay/Double Bay to your wardrobe".
This ghost store promotes itself as an Australian brand but the company is not registered in Australia. (Supplied)
Ms Barham said it made her livid.
"This [business] is quite despicable in how it is presented, absolutely misleading with its marketing and commercial exploitation of the Byron brand," she said.
An online search reveals hundreds of negative reviews by customers lured by the Byron Bay and Double Bay name tag.
The store has received many negative online reviews. (Supplied)
The ABC contacted Byron Bay Boutique but did not receive a response.
Protecting the Byron brand
Ms Barham fought for the integrity of Byron Bay as a brand, including when she was a member of the NSW parliament.
"About 20 years ago, a brewing company was calling itself Byron Bay Beer but was actually being produced in Newcastle and that got national news because I made a comment about how wrong it was," she said.
The ACCC found Byron Bay Pale Lager labels were misleading, leading to fines of more than $20,000 for Carlton & United Breweries. (ABC News: Margaret Burin)
"I tried to get the council to .. get the naming rights, the copyright to 'Byron Bay'.
"It was the early days of the internet and I don't think people saw how far things would go and it wasn't seen as being a 'good investment' by the council."
Byron Bay Chamber of Commerce president Matt Williamson said the chamber had researched the Byron Bay Boutique.
"They are offshore, they are in China, they are not ASIC registered, they do not have any base here in Australia, even the website is hosted offshore so it's really difficult to stop them," he said.
"Our brand in Byron is really important, but we've just got no definition to it and we've got no protection to it."
The chamber and the local tourism authority, Destination Byron, have begun to raise funds to define and legally protect the Byron brand.
"What people cash in on is the importance of place and what Byron represents is the commitment to protecting the environment, to protecting the community and ethical values," Mr Williamson said.
The Byron 'vibe' is easy to market, but tricky to trademark. (ABC News: Elloise Farrow-Smith)
Trademarking the Byron 'vibe'
But is it possible to claim a monopoly on the Byron vibe encompassed in the "cheer up, slow down, chill out" motto that greets visitors as they arrive at the iconic Australian seaside town?
Trademark lawyer Rebecca Jones said it was difficult.
"Geographic locations are often un-registerable as standard trademarks," she said.
One successful example is French champagne which relies on something called a geographical indication, or GI.
"If you want to get a GI, there needs to be some identifiable quality that is attributable to the specific goods and that needs to relate or be because of the region where they originate from," she said.
Ms Jones said trademarking the "vibe" of Byron Bay was tricky.
Locals want better protection of the Byron Bay brand. (Supplied: Byron Bay General Store)
"If you are looking at protecting [Byron Bay] for a wide range of goods and services that can originate from other places with the same qualities, then it is much more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve that kind of GI status," she said.
But there was another option.
"Byron Shire Council could use a 'Made in Byron Bay' logo," Ms Jones said
What's in a name?
Harriet Calvert created Harriet Jane Designs clothing 12 years ago in Byron Bay.
Ms Calvert says all businesses should be transparent about the origins of their product. (Supplied: Donatella Parisini Photography)
When she moved 20 minutes drive away from the town, she stopped using a Made in Byron Bay label and switched to Made in Australia.
"It's about being transparent and portraying the correct information [for] consumers," she said.
"The ACCC should be looking into these ghost stores and taking them down because it is misleading information."
Ms Calvert (R) employs Lana Visnjic (L) to help with her fashion label. (Supplied: Donatella Parisini Photography)
About an hour's drive from Byron Bay is the tiny hamlet of Zara, which is the subject of a legal stoush before the High Court of Australia.
Spanish fashion giant Zara applied to register the name Zara in Australia, but the Australian government's intellectual property law agency, IP Australia stepped in.
Because Zara is a place in Australia, IP Australia has opposed the global fashion house's plans in court.
Buyer beware
Matt Williamson acknowledged it was difficult for the chamber to stop inaccurate or unethical use of the Byron brand.
"People can petition the government to try and have websites banned, but ultimately they are 100 per cent offshore so ultimately they are difficult to stop," he said.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said Australian consumer law applied to any business that supplied goods, or marketed to Australian consumers, including those businesses based in other countries and operating online.
The law prohibits businesses from engaging in misleading conduct or making misleading representations including making false or misleading statements about quality or characteristics of goods, or about prices, price savings and discounts.
Capturing a state of mind in a copyright would be nearly impossible, a lawyer said. (ABC North Coast: Matt Coble)
But the former mayor, Ms Barham, said consumers needed to do their own research.
"People should check and if they don't identify an address or any genuine connection back to Byron when they promote themselves that way, that should be a red flag."
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