Beverage maker East Imperial unable to pay over $7 million in debts, $160,000 still owed to IRD
It has now been removed from the New Zealand Companies Office.
Founded in 2012, the Auckland-based company, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange,
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Techday NZ
an hour ago
- Techday NZ
Moonvalley launches first fully licensed AI model for filmmakers
The first fully licensed, commercially available AI model for the video production industry was released today by Toronto-based software company Moonvalley. Last November, the organisation announced USD $70 million to "develop the future of generative media." One of those developments, Marey, was released for general availability this morning. Marey is a learning model capable of precision controls, complex VFX sequences, and maintaining complete creative authority for filmmakers and studios. The model was trained on original 1080p content, capable of developing sharper videos up to five seconds in length at 24 frames per second. Feature highlights include : Camera control for creating a 3D atmosphere from a single image; Trajectory control for natural scene movement; Motion transfer for copying object movement from one animation to the next; Keyframing for generating smooth transitions between images; Referencing for integrating reference images into existing video; Pose control for more nuanced actor performances; Shot extension for extending an original video. Naeem Talukdar, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Moonvalley, said the creation of Marey was a direct response to industry feedback on existing offerings. "We built Marey because the industry told us existing AI video tools don't work for serious production." Talukdar added that the model provides users with creative control and legal peace of mind, as Marley partners with creators rather than exploiting copyrighted material. Notably, Disney and Universal sued AI image generator Midjourney last month, claiming the AI firm copied proprietary images while training its learning models. Moonvalley states that Marey's architecture was built using exclusively licensed, high-definition content, rather than scraped or user-generated material. This approach, the company says, aims to address copyright concerns while providing a tool suitable for commercial application. Today's launch follows six months of partnerships with Moonvalley's studio, Asteria, and three months of testing with external partners. Moonvalley said that "through this process, teams refined unprecedented control over objects, characters, motion, and scene composition to deliver the accuracy, precision, and directorial control that filmmakers need to enable groundbreaking creative work." Moonvalley stated that these functionalities enable not only enhanced VFX capabilities for studios and brands but also allow independent filmmakers access to visuals that typically require larger budgets. "Marey isn't just another model—it's a creative unlock," said Hussein Dembel Sow, a Senegalese independent filmmaker and screenwriter. "It gives filmmakers like me the freedom to experiment and innovate without the financial burden or scarcity of production opportunities. Dembel Sow said this new venture creates a hybrid type of cinema. Calling it: "something deeply local yet globally legible." Follow us on: Share on:
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
No climate change buy-outs in future, expert group tells government
Homeowners might have to pay to fix their houses if they are damaged by weather events in the future, if they live in a high-risk area and don't want to move. Photo: RNZ Homeowners whose houses are flooded or damaged by weather events should not expect buy-outs in the future, a panel of experts has recommended to the government. The group has also recommended that individuals should be responsible for knowing the risks and making their own decisions about whether to move away from high-risk areas. In a new report , it suggested a transition period of 20 years, to provide people with time to make decisions and spread any cost. The independent reference group, which included economists, representatives from the banking and insurance sectors, local government and iwi, was set up by the Ministry for the Environment to help inform forthcoming climate adaptation legislation. Successive governments have grappled with how to adapt to and pay for climate change risks to communities as the frequency and severity of weather events increases. Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland floods are estimated to have cost a combined $14.5 billion in infrastructure damage and business losses. The previous Labour-led government failed to draft adaptation laws, and the current government has still not introduced a planned climate adaptation bill that would set out how communities, individuals and businesses will respond. The latest report follows a cross-party select committee inquiry completed last year , and an expert working group report published in 2023 . It said climate change was already affecting New Zealanders and there was an "urgent need" to change how the country adapted to the risks. "It is currently underprepared. This is leading to larger and more frequent recovery costs, unmanaged financial strain, and disproportionate impacts on some groups," the report said. If climate change risks were not addressed, it could lead to insurers withdrawing cover from some areas , and property values in high-risk areas declining over time. It recommended that people should be responsible for knowing the risks to their own home and acting accordingly. "Unless there is risk to life, some people may choose to stay in risky locations. In that case, they should be responsible for bearing the costs of their decision," the authors said. However, people would not be able to make informed decisions until much better, nationally consistent information about those risks was made available, they said. Along with better hazard information and communication, the report recommended mandatory adaptation planning at local government level, along with reducing councils' exposure to lawsuits "so that hard decisions can be made". Some of those hard decisions could include withdrawing services from some locations, it suggested. The government should continue to provide hardship support after large-scale weather events, the report recommended. However, it also recommended that financial compensation to home and landowners for their properties should gradually reduce over the transition period, with no buy-outs after that time. Adaptation funding itself should follow a 'beneficiary pays' approach in most cases, the report said. "This would mean those who benefit most from these investments contribute more." Central government should only invest in adaptation if it would protect Crown assets, "or where broader national benefits can be realised". "Central government investment or other financing strategies may be appropriate to help overcome challenges in particularly vulnerable areas, where there is less ability to pay." The government should also provide some financial support to Māori communities to protect infrastructure like marae and urupā, which were often in higher-risk areas, the authors said. "Māori land and assets are particularly exposed to climate-change-related risk, as are rural communities that may have small ratepayer bases or be dependent on critical infrastructure assets such as a single bridge." It also noted the effects of climate change risks on lower socio-economic communities. "As prices of properties that are highly exposed to climate-change-related risks fall, lower socio-economic communities will be more likely to live in them, increasing their financial and physical vulnerability." The report's recommendations are a departure from a previous expert report, which recommended an ongoing framework for compensating home and business owners in order to move high-risk communities out of harm's way. Environmental Defence Society policy director Raewyn Peart was previously involved in helping write recommendations for designing adaptation law, and told Nine to Noon the first priority was to stop building new houses in high-hazard areas like floodplains. A National Environmental Standard could be put in place with immediate effect to stop councils allowing that to happen, she said. She had not read the Independent Reference Group's report but said the proposals in it were unlikely to go far enough, because people in difficult circumstances through no fault of their own would need help. On the other hand, there had to be a point where councils could stop providing services if people chose not to move, she said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 hours ago
- RNZ News
How fried chicken food truck YFC ran afoul of KFC's trademark lawyers
Ben Yang's food truck chicken business will change its name and logo after KFC took notice. Photo: TikTok / File Explainer: An entrepreneurial teenager ran into trouble when his fried chicken business was called out by KFC. Why does a giant global corporation care so much about similarity to their logo? It all boils down to intellectual property rights, and businesses big and small wanting to protect their brand. Riccarton High School student Ben Yang started up his own business last year selling Korean fried chicken and more. The 17-year-old called it "YFC" - as in 'Yang Fried Chicken' - and gave it a red logo featuring a cartoon of Yang. However, fast food giant KFC objected to the similarity to its own logo , sending out legal documents ordering him to cease and desist. Yang has been told to change the name of his food truck by August and has started a contest to help rebrand. Riccarton High School student Ben Yang started up his own business last year. Photo: Supplied The teenager ran afoul of intellectual property rights by coming so close to the well-known KFC logo. Ben Cain, an intellectual property lawyer at Auckland law firm James & Wells, said it doesn't matter how small your business is in cases like this. "Companies like KFC take their IP rights in their brands, be they trademark rights, copyright rights or 'get-up' rights in how the brand is graphically represented, very seriously and they do so for good reasons." Rob Batty, co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Intellectual Property and an associate law professor at the University of Auckland, said enforcement action against trademark infringement often boils down to not wanting to confuse customers. "Consumer confusion can potentially lead to loss of sales," he said. "The prospect of consumers being confused by the use of the same or a similar sign can also potentially damage the reputation associated with a trademark." Yang's business has taken off on social media. Photo: Supplied And while a teenager's food truck may be small, there are bigger principles at stake, Cain said. "The size of the business which is enforcing their rights is really irrelevant in this context - small or big, no one likes a third party copying their IP, so every business should take enforcement of their rights seriously. If a business doesn't, it can lose bottomline value in its IP rights by what is called 'loss of distinctiveness'." Batty noted there have been many cases where a trademarked term loses its uniqueness and becomes a generic term, such as aspirin, trampoline or escalator. "It is possible that a prolonged failure to police a trademark by a registered trademark owner could lead to genericide," he said. "Genericide describes a situation where a trademark loses its distinctiveness entirely, and becomes the common descriptive term of a particular good or service." Cain said that Yang's design ultimately comes too close to the more famous logo. "He's done something he shouldn't, perhaps naively: he's emulated the KFC name, logo and brand colours and as a consequence received a standard letter from a business asking him to stop and change. Such a letter is standard practice for a company the size of KFC - not calling an alleged infringer and saying 'hey, please stop'." Yang told RNZ he was surprised to get the legal orders. "It's quite shocking to see that KFC, this really big brand, would find out about this small food truck that's just parked down the road ... and just send legal documents without ... talking to us beforehand, without any communication," he said. A spokesperson for KFC earlier refused to comment on the YFC case to RNZ. In the age of social media, it doesn't matter how small or remote your business is. YFC's logo, prominent on Instagram and other social media, was eventually spotted, and "someone saw his branding and told someone who told someone", Cain said. "Larger organisations may have specific individuals whose responsibility it is to monitor for conduct like this." The takeaway shop Popeye's in Manawatū had to change its name after the US food chain objected. Photo: WARWICK SMITH / MANAWATŪ STANDARD Small New Zealand businesses running afoul of bigger companies is nothing new. "'Policing' a registered trademark can protect against 'dilution'," Batty said. "This is where the distinctiveness of a trademark - that is, the ability of a trademark to be identified by consumers as marking out goods and services as having a particular trade origin - is weakened or eroded." The takeaway shop Popeye's in Feilding changed its name last year to North Street Takeaways after the US fast food giant of the same name objected. The American Popeye's opened its first outlet in New Zealand last year. In 2023, New Zealand homeware retailer Bed Bath & Beyond lost a trademark battle in the High Court against the Australian Bed Bath 'N' Table over a number of intellectual property-related claims. Back in 2015, the Christchurch cleaning firm Minions and Me ran into trouble with Hollywood's Universal Pictures for using images of the animated characters featured in the movie series Despicable Me. The business continues to use the name but had to drop all reference to the animated characters from its branding and advertising. Another famous copyright battle in the 1980s ensued between Harrods department store in London and a Palmerston North restaurant, which drew global media interest, while Australia and New Zealand had a long-running stoush over who could use the name mānuka honey. KFC first opened in New Zealand back in 1971. Photo: 123RF "Being first matters," Batty said. "When you have come up with a new brand name or a new logo for your business, you should check whether the same name or logo (or a similar name or logo) has been registered as a trademark by another trader." The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand offers assistance in searching for and registering trademarks. It can also do "distinctiveness reports" to see if your name or logo comes a bit too close for comfort to another. Cain also suggests getting help from a professional intellectual property expert. "The first thing you should do is ask an IP lawyer to conduct a clearance search of identical and similar trademarks of all the countries you're intending to trade in. It's tempting to do the searching yourself but unless you are experienced it's not a good idea as there are many pitfalls. "Many start-ups and small businesses don't do any searching before they choose their name and come unstuck," he said, and they then lost time and money dealing with rebranding. The New Zealand Trade Marks Act 2002 also looks at situations where a person started using a trademark before another person registers or starts using a similar or identical one. "The first user will have a defence to trademark infringement," Batty said. KFC, originally calling itself Kentucky Fried Chicken, first opened in New Zealand back in 1971. "Some traders register their trademarks in New Zealand well before they start using them," Batty said. "For example, an application to register the words KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN was filed in 1981 (trademark registration number 139149). A logo (showing a portrait of Colonel Harland Sanders) is recorded on the Register as being filed in 1964 (trademark registration number 76669, now expired)." Yang has chosen to rebrand his fledgling business, rather than engage in a lengthy legal battle like some of those other examples. "Your options are pretty simple: fight back or change," Cain said. If you had a good defence over your trademark claim and can afford legal fees, it could be worth the battle, but ultimately boils down to how far you want to go, he said. "If you have no or a poor defence, don't quibble about it - just agree to change and change. Consumers will move on and accept your new brand before you know it." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
