A non-Indigenous company that holds worldwide exclusive rights to use the Aboriginal flag on clothing, and has issued infringement notices to the AFL and several Aboriginal companies that use it, is part-owned by a man who has previously been prosecuted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) for selling fake Aboriginal art. WAM Clothing was granted the exclusive use of the Aboriginal flag on clothing by its designer and copyright holder, the Luritja artist Harold Thomas, in October 2018. Catullo said she could not understand why a non-Indigenous owned business would want to license the Aboriginal flag. Ben’s company Birubi Art has an exclusive licence agreement to utilise the Aboriginal flag design for their products. “I presume he willingly entered into an agreement with WAM Clothing to do this.

Source: The Guardian June 11, 2019 08:15 UTC