Jeweller - July 2023

News
Lust for trust: Everledger in hot water for misuse of third-party intellectual property
Brisbane-based technology company Everledger
has been misusing the intellectual property of
third-party organisations and may have breached
Australian Consumer Law.
The company, which focuses on the jewellery
industry, collapsed eight weeks ago with close
to $AU10 million in debts and was placed under
voluntary administration on 24 April.
The UK parent company, Foreverhold Limited,
is in the process of being liquidated. Launched in
2016 by Leanne Kemp, Everledger has received
more than $AU54 million in funding and boasted
Chinese tech giant Tencent - owner of WeChat -
as an investor.
The company’s rise to a ‘global power player’ led
to Kemp’s appointment to the Office of the Chief
Entrepreneur position by Queensland Premier
Annastacia Palaszczuk in 2018, despite having
previously faced personal bankruptcy proceedings.
During her time as Queensland’s Chief
Entrepreneur (2018-2020), her company racked up
more than $AU5 million in losses. Everledger’s
mandate, according to Kemp, is to improve
transparency and ethics in the jewellery industry,
especially in the international diamond industry.
Kemp regularly speaks about the importance of
trust and the company website states: “Everledger
is the digital transparency company, providing
technology solutions to increase transparency in
global supply chains. Our purpose is to contribute
greater clarity and confidence in the marketplaces
where transparency is a strategic imperative.”
The homepage goes on to describe the
company’s purpose as “Helping everyone to
trust in what they buy”.
Furthermore, the website features the logos of six
organisations with a claim that these companies
‘trust’ Everledger, in what appears to be a
promotion of the company’s credibility and integrity.
The logos of the World Economic Forum, Brilliant
Earth, Fred Meyer Jewelers, Blockchain Australia,
Tencent, and FISITA all appear under the heading
“TRUSTED BY”.
The problem is at least two of the organisations
featured on the website were unaware that
their intellectual property was being used to
promote Everledger.
Representatives confirmed to Jeweller that
permission to use the logos had not been sought,
nor granted.
A spokesperson for The World Economic
Forum (WEF) told Jeweller, “It is important
to note that the WEF has no involvement in
Everledger’s business decisions.”
“Furthermore, we would like to clarify the WEF
never grants permission for any technology
pioneer to use the WEF logo.”
Likewise, Blockchain Australia head of
operations Amy-Rose Goodey confirmed that
Everledger has been using the logo ‘improperly’
and without explicit permission.
"Everledger is not a member and their website
should not be displaying the Blockchain Australia
logo. If they were not in liquidation we would ask
them to remove our logo," she said.
Chair of Blockchain Australia Michael Bacina
contacted Jeweller to further emphasise
that he views this behaviour by businesses
as a serious problem. He and his staff could
not find any connection between Blockchain
Australia and Everledger and confirmed that
his organisation does not provide a statement
of trust to any third-party company.
A website screen capture 27 June, showing the
logos and implication that Everledger is “trusted
by” the World Economic Forum and Blockchain
Australia; both organisations deny any knowledge
of the claims and advise no permission was
granted for use of their logos.
Transparency in question
Brilliant Earth promotes its business as being
at the forefront of blockchain technology: “We
were one of the first jewellers to offer blockchainenabled
diamonds at scale, to provide traceability of
a diamond’s origin and ownership”.
It is unclear if Brilliant Earth uses the
Everledger platform or whether the company
granted approval for the Brilliant Earth logo
to appear on the Everledger website under
the heading “TRUSTED BY”. After numerous
attempts to seek clarification on this - and
its own claims about transparency - Jeweller
was contacted by Victoria Del Rico, director of
communications Brilliant Earth; however, she
has subsequently remained silent.
The Fred Meyer Jewelers logo appears under the
same “TRUSTED BY” heading and Kirsten Darrow,
group vice president Fred Meyer Jewelers is quoted
on the Everledger website as stating, “We are
excited to be able to offer Rock Solid diamonds to
our customers as part of our ongoing commitment
to responsibly sourced and transparent jewellery
supply chains”.
Jeweller contacted Fred Meyer Jewelers on
multiple occasions seeking clarity about the
company’s apparent endorsement of Everledger
and its own transparency practices; however, it
failed to respond. FISITA likewise did not respond
to various requests for comment.
Tencent is/was an investor in Everledger and
was responsive to emails; however, at the time
of publication had not provided comment on the
issues relating to its logo and/or the “TRUSTED
BY” matter.
Lust for trust?
The Everledger website features a ‘profile’ page
on Kemp which states: “In her role as CEO, she
inspires and steers the team of Everlegends [sic] to
increase transparency and trust with technology, in
close collaboration with our industry partners.”
In a 2021 interview with Rapaport, a diamond
industry publication, Kemp spoke of the
importance of trust in business.
“There’s a lust toward trust,” she told the
publication. The article continues by describing
Everledger as being “on a mission to facilitate
that trend [sustainability], using its blockchainpowered
platform to help diamond and jewellery
businesses keep a transparent record of their
products’ provenance.”
The company's future remains up in the air after
a second creditors meeting was postponed to 28
June. Everledger faces significant debt and the
Administrator’s report concluded that the company
has no intellectual property assets. In a surprising
admission, the report also indicated that the
company effectively survived on government grants.
If a Deed of Company Arrangement is accepted in
order to allow Everledger to continue, it could find
itself running afoul of Australian Consumer Law
(ACL) regarding claims that it has misused the
intellectual property of third-party organisations.
Section 18 of the ACL states, “a person must not,
in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is
misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or
deceive.”
Jeweller sought clarification from Kemp about if,
and why, her company would be exploiting the logos
of external organisations - without approval - by
suggesting that Everledger was “trusted by” them.
At the time of publication she had not responded.
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