Ozblu blueberry brand founders Roger Jeffrey Horak, Sharon Anne Horak initiate $14 million legal battle

A royalty licensing dispute involving one of WA’s largest blueberry businesses is headed to the Supreme Court, with claims more than $28 million in growers’ royalties were wrongly paid for more than a decade. The legal battle was initiated by Roger Jeffrey Horak and Sharon Anne Horak, the founders of United Exports — a vertically integrated, Perth-based agricultural company best known for leading blueberry brand Ozblu. The company has farms across Australia, North America, South America, southern Africa and southern Europe. In a writ filed in the WA Supreme Court in June, the Horaks — as owners of Oz Varieties Pty Ltd and as trustees of the Dwergie Investment Trust, under which the OzBlu agricultural trademark is registered — sued Prunus Persica Pty Ltd, Early Blue Pty Ltd, and Oz Peach Pty Ltd. Documents obtained by the Countryman show Mr Horak is a director of Early Blue along with Vincent David Andrew Mazzardis, a blueberry breeder and director of Prunus Persica. Oz Varieties commercialises fruit varieties under sub-licensing arrangements, granting licences to growers in specific regions in return for monetary payments. According to the Horak’s claim, the sub-licensing agreement required Oz Varieties to pay a fixed sum and half of the net royalties from growers to the Dwergie Investment Trust. It is alleged that Oz Varieties instead made payments directly to Early Blue and Oz Peach, bypassing Dwergie Investment Trust contrary to the terms of the sub-licensing agreement. Those funds, according to the Horaks, were then mistakenly paid by Early Blue and Oz Peach directly to Prunus Persica and Bisa Trading Pty Ltd. The alleged overpayments to Prunus Persica and Bisa Trading since 2013 are said to be in excess of $28 million — an amount they were not legally entitled to under the sub-licencing agreement. The Horak’s claim that Prunus Persica and Bisa Trading have been unjustly enriched at the expense of Oz Varities and the Dwergie Investment Trust as a result of the mistaken overpayments. It is alleged that Early Blue holds a sub-licence for blueberry breeding rights, while Oz Peach holds a sub-licence for stone fruit breeding rights — both for the regions of North and South America and southern Africa. According to the writ, Bisa Trading acknowledged the overpayment and agreed to repay the owed amounts, including interest. But Prunus Persica is alleged to have refused to acknowledge the overpayments and the Horak’s say they are entitled to recover more than $14 million. Mr Horak founded South Perth company United Exports in 2002, building it up before launching blueberry brand OzBlu in 2006 in partnership with breeders Dave and Leasa Mazzardis. Ms Horak is a varietal manager at United Exports, where she manages the company’s breeding programs and variety commercialisation. Together, Mr and Ms Horak are the named trustees of the Dwergie Investment Trust, through which several agricultural trademarks — including OzBlu and “Because Not All Blueberries Are Created Equal” — have been registered. The investment trust and Oz Varieties are seeking the amount to be repaid, plus interest and costs. Mr Horak declined to comment and Mr Mazzardis could not be reached for comment. The matter is due to be heard in WA Supreme Court on July 31.