Domino’s chief executive Don Meij.
THE creator of a documentary film who lost a court battle with Domino’s last month has refused to pay the pizza chain’s $60,000 legal bill.
Phoebe Stuart-Carberry was ordered to pay costs after Domino’s sought a Supreme Court injunction preventing the release of a short film detailing a patent dispute with GPS technology company Precision Tracking.
Ms Stuart-Carberry told news.com.au she didn’t regret making the film.
“I’m just not going to pay it,” she said. “I am in a fortunate position in which I don’t have assets or a job at the moment. I’m just doing my own thing on this before I go and get a real job, so they can bankrupt me.”
She said the fact Domino’s was “doing personal attacks and trying to intimidate me just shows that it’s true and they want to hide it”.
“They might have had [cases] in the past where they have just sent legal letters and people have given up — especially people that have assets,” she said.
“If I did have assets I wouldn’t be doing this, let’s just put it that way.”
Last month, Domino’s chief executive Don Meij told news.com.au that “our view is never to ruin anybody, but when you try to blackmail, when you try to threaten, there have to be consequences for your actions”.
Phoebe Stuart-Carberry.Source:Supplied
In a statement on Friday, Mr Meij said the company believed in freedom of speech, but with freedom of speech there “also has to be integrity and responsibility”.
“You can’t just make any claim and attack a company without those claims having substance,” he said. “We need to protect our people and take a stance about unreasonable and antagonistic behaviour.”
Domino’s says it intends to donate the $60,000 to charity. “For us it isn’t about the money, it’s about the principle and sending a clear message that unreasonable and irresponsible behaviour will not be tolerated,” he said.
In an email to Domino’s, Ms Stuart-Carberry wrote: “Don, if you would like to donate $60,000 to charity, you are worth $100 million, why don’t you reach into your own pocket and pay it yourself?
“Hell will freeze over before any charity accepts your dirty $60,000.”
Domino’s sought the injunction so it could view the contents of the film after “repeated threatening remarks” by Ms Stuart-Carberry. After viewing the film, Domino’s did not object to the injunction being lifted.
“There were many emails and social media claims to our company [containing] all sorts of profanities and colourful language,” Mr Meij told news.com.au last month.
“Unfortunately, we have a disgruntled potential supplier making false claims against Domino’s and its team members in an effort to try to latch on to Domino’s highly successful and innovative GPS Driver Tracker.”
According to court documents, on February 9 she wrote that it would be “better if you work things out with Precision Tracking and pay them what they are owed for Domino’s using their technology now”.
“The media is about to have a field day,” she wrote.
“I would get ahead of the ball and rectify things with Precision now, if I were you. I hope you have a safety harness, the communications team at Domino’s is in for a bumpy media ride over this horrendous behaviour and stealing from small business. I can see the David and Goliath headlines coming out soon.”
On the same day, under a social media post which read, “Don Meij and Domino’s are not innovators, that’s for sure. They pay kids to make pizzas,” she wrote: “Nooooooo. F*** you Domino’s. We will get you. I’ll be in the office 2pm tomorrow guys, for a short meeting on the strategy.”
The patent dispute between Domino’s and Precision Tracking is ongoing.
