A bitter legal dispute has erupted over the ownership of the Aboriginal flag with three parties claiming to be the designer of the famous emblem.
David Brown and James Tennant are each challenging a copyright claim over the flag made by Darwin artist Harold Thomas, who told a copyright tribunal he designed the yellow, black and red flag for use at an Aboriginal protest march in 1971.
Mr Brown claims Mr Thomas was his former art teacher at an Aboriginal community college, and said Mr Thomas stole the design from his course work.
The public spat has dismayed the Aboriginal community, as well as the presiding judge, Justice Ian Sheppard, who called the dispute 'rather unfortunate' and urged the parties to seek out-of-court conciliation over the design, which was officially recognised under the Flags Act last year.
Although the Aboriginal flag is widely flown throughout Australia, and used extensively by several government agencies, Mr Thomas said yesterday he never intended it for non-Aboriginal use.
He added that he had never given permission for any government to use the flag, nor had he been paid royalties for 25 years.
