October 08, 2015
$11m claim on wananga "deluded"
Te Wananga o Aotearoa chief executive Jim Mather says a legal scrap with the organisation's founder was disappointing, and he's glad it's over.
The Aotearoa Institute, headed by Rongo Wetere, and Mr Wetere's daughter Susan Cullen have withdrawn action claiming the wananga was infringing their intellectual property in courses they developed.
Mr Mather says a 2006 settlement in which the wananga paid the institute $7.5 million was supposed to cover all such issues, and the programmes such as the Te Ara Reo Maori language programme have subsequently evolved to such an extent the allegations could not hold up.
He says the wananga never accepted there was any breach of intellectual property.
"In December of 2014 on a Monday morning I received a letter from the Aotearoa Institute making that allegation and requesting a payment of $11.25 million by close of business on Friday so it really was a deluded action on their part and showed extreme naievity and there was no basis for it," Mr Mather says.
The parties have agreed to carry their own costs, and the wananga no longer leases any property from the Aotearoa Institute.
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