Intersection between copyright and design protection - Digga Australia Pty Ltd v Norm Engineering Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 33
Marina Lloyd Jones, Senior Associate of Allens Arthur Robinson reports on Digga Australia Pty Ltd v Norm Engineering Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 33, in which the Full Federal Court allowed an appeal on one of four grounds argued in Digga Australia Pty Ltd v Norm Engineering Pty Ltd, a case which considers the intersection between copyright and design protection before and after the 2004 legislative amendments.
According to Marina Lloyd Jones:
* Designers and manufacturers should keep in mind that, where features of shape of an article are dictated by functional considerations, those features may still constitute a ‘design’ and thus copying may not be an infringement of copyright in certain circumstances.
* If a product is excused from copyright infringement by the copyright/design overlap, the design drawings preceding that product may not be so excused, depending on their date of creation.
Intersection between copyright and design protection