The Federal Court of Australia has handed down a landmark decision under the Designs Act which could lead to more actions against imported copies of Australian-designed goods.
In June 2004 Tony Ottobre registered designs for LED lights aimed at the automotive industry under the Designs Act 2003.
A cheaper version of the product was imported from China and sold in Australia from November 2006.
Mr Ottobre brought a test case under the Designs Act against the importer and distributors of the copy product.
On February 24, 2009, the Federal Court granted injunctions against the importer and distributors from “directly or indirectly making, importing, selling or offering for sale” any automotive lamps that were “identical to or substantially similar in overall impression” to Mr Ottobre’s registered Australian designs. Mr Ottobre was awarded $200,000 in damages plus costs.
“This has been going on for years, copies undermining the manufacture and sale of Australian-designed parts and products, costing Aussie firms hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs,” Mr Ottobre said.
“Many people in the automotive industry are under the impression you can copy someone else’s product so long as at least 10% of it is different. This is not the case and has now been confirmed by this ruling,” he said.
For the full judgment see: LED Technologies Pty Ltd v Elecspess Pty Ltd (No 2) [2009] FCA 141 (24 February 2009)
