Paul Hogan sues burger chain Grill’d over ‘that’s a knife’ line

THAT’S a lawsuit. Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan is taking a burger chain to court for using his “that’s not a knife” quote.

The famous “knife” scene from Crocodile Dundee, featuring Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski

That’s not a lawsuit, THAT’S a lawsuit.

Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan has thrown another court case on the barbie, launching action against burger chain Grill’d over its use of his most famous movie catchphrase.

Hogan objects to the use of the line “That’s not a knife, that’s a knife” — spoken by his bushman character Mick Dundee in the 1986 hit Crocodile Dundee — on cutlery sleeves distributed to Grill’d customers looking to carve into a burger.

In the movie, Hogan’s crocodile-hunting character speaks the line as he pulls out a dangerous-looking Bowie knife after being threatened by muggers with a switchblade.

And in the Federal Court case, Hogan has pulled out legal weapons including allegations Grill’d has made a false or misleading representation that the use of the quote is endorsed by him or by his company, Rimfire Films.

He also accuses Grill’d of a “flagrant” breach of copyright law and claims the chain has refused to promise to stop distributing the cutlery sleeves and not to do it again.

The millionaire movie star seeks an injunction stopping Grill’d using the cutlery sleeve, and damages for passing off and breaching the Copyright Act.

He also wants the damages to be increased through so-called “exemplary damages” because Grill’d “has been engaged in flagrant disregard” of his rights and refused to enter an undertaking to stop handing out the cutlery sleeves.

“The respondent threatens to continue to engage in the conduct complained of in this statement of claim, with the result that the applicants are likely to suffer further loss and damage, unless the respondent is restrained,” Hogan said in a statement of claim filed with the court last week.

Hogan claims the “knife line” — as it’s referred to in the claim document — is valuable because it has been “heard by the many consumers in Australia who have seen the Crocodile Dundee movie” and “has been featured, mentioned or referred to on television, in print, on the internet, and in popular culture, in Australia”.

He claims Grill’d has used the line on cutlery sleeves since at least June, “without the licence of either of Rimfire or Mr Hogan”.

Hogan told the court he wrote Crocodile Dundee with Ken Shadie and assigned the merchandising rights to the film to his company, Rimfire Films, in May 1985.

Those rights included “the manufacture and sale of goods … reproducing, depicting or decorated with the characters, scenes, themes, incidents and articles appearing” in the film, according to an excerpt of a deed of assignment included in the statement of claim.

Grill’d has yet to file a defence.

It’s not Hogan’s first tangle with the Australian court system.

In 2010, a stoush between the movie star and media organisations seeking legal documents related to a $150m fight with the Taxation Office went all the way to the High Court.

Hogan lost, establishing an important precedent about access to court documents.

Grill’d and Hogan’s lawyers, Robinson Legal, have been contacted for comment.