Taronga Zoo, with its sweeping views of Sydney harbour from Mosman, is suing the operators of a planned second zoo in the city’s west over its proposed use of the name Sydney Zoo, claiming it is misleading and deceptive without the qualification it is in "western Sydney".
Plans for the $36 million cage-free Sydney Zoo in the Western Sydney Parklands at Bungarribee in Blacktown were revealed in 2015 and the venture received final planning approval in September last year.
The not-for-profit Taronga Zoo has launched a Federal Court bid to stop the proponents using the name Sydney Zoo on the grounds it is likely to mislead the public, including international and interstate tourists, into thinking the western Sydney attraction is the "long-established and well-known" Taronga Zoo and is "located in central Sydney".
It said Sydney Zoo, which will be located "over 33 kilometres from the centre of Sydney", chose its name "with the knowledge and intention that the geographic indicator of Sydney would increase the appeal" of its zoo to visitors, particularly tourists.
Taronga Zoo is located about 8 kilometres from the CBD and said the use of the term "Sydney zoo" by its rival amounted to a false or misleading representation that it was located in "central Sydney rather than western Sydney".