The decision to not pay IWTO royalty fees for the use of intellectual property rights and that it does not support generic marketing by Wool Partners International (WPI), has raised a storm in the wool industry in New Zealand.
According to Stephen Fookes, Chairman of National Council of Wool Interests, this displays intent by Wool Partners to destroy the potential to unify and improve the returns from the sector”.
He said that he had been assured by Wool Partners that the Council would receive full support from the company in their ongoing projects, but were also happy with the royalty system, which meets the cost of these projects.
He added by saying that, in March 2010, the National Council of Wool Interests announced that the International Wool Textile Organization (IWTO) had suggested various projects to revive the global wool industry.
These projects were undertaken after extensive research by the global wool industry, including WPI subsidiary, Wools of New Zealand, in 2006 and that two major projects had been initiated.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India