SYDNEY, Aug 25: The family of Sir Donald Bradman will attend celebrations marking the centenary of the cricketer’s birth despite a bitter legal battle involving one of the main organisers.

His son John and grandchildren Greta and Tom will attend a high-profile centenary dinner hosted by actor Hugh Jackman (of X-Men fame) at Sydney’s Westin Hotel, where Australian cricket Captain Ricky Ponting will give the Bradman oration.

The family initiated legal proceedings in the Supreme Court this month over the way Bradman’s name has been exploited commercially by the law firm Allens Arthur Robinson, which worked on behalf of the Bradman Foundation, one of the organisers of the centenary dinner on August 27. The foundation licenses the name to corporations to support the Bradman Museum of Cricket in Bowral and the foundation.

The use of Bradman’s name for commercial exploitation is a sensitive issue. In 2000 the Government amended Corporations Law regulations affording the Bradman name the same protection as the royal family and Anzac.

The family’s disenchantment became public three years ago when the foundation licensed food company Unibic to market Bradman cookies in India.

Bradman’s granddaughter Greta, 29, an accomplished soprano, will sing at the $495-a-head Sydney dinner. She said the family had decided to join the celebrations to honour a much-loved family member, who died in 2001.

“We wanted to remember grandpa and grandma [Lady Jessie] and honour what they stood for,” she said. “That side of things [the legal challenge] will continue, but it was very important to us that we attend as many celebrations as possible.”—Agencies