In the recent Federal Court decision in Barrett Property Group Pty Ltd v Carlisle Homes Pty Ltd, the Barrett Property Group (Barrett) successfully enforced infringements of its copyright in housing designs for project homes which included an “al fresco” living area feature.
Barrett claimed that Carlisle Homes Pty Limited (trading as Porter Davis Homes) (Carlisle) had copied Barrett’s designs from which Porter Davis’ project homes had been built and sold to the public.
Copyright in a work is infringed where the whole of that work, or a “substantial part” of that work, has been reproduced (ie copied) without the copyright owner’s consent.
Barrett argued that, by copying the “al fresco” living area feature of its design, Carlisle had reproduced a substantial part of the copyright subsisting in those designs.
This is Barrett’s second successful copyright infringement case in twelve months, highlighting perhaps the fact that developers are becoming more proactive in the protection and enforcement of their intellectual property rights against competitors.
This case is notable for the following reasons:
- despite the general similarity (in size, functional requirements, number of rooms etc) between different designs for project homes, the Barrett designs had sufficient originality to support the subsistence of copyright as a whole;
- the “al fresco” feature was the product of significant labour, skill, and judgment by Barrett, which made it a substantial part of Barrett’s designs; and
- while the respective “al fresco” features of the Carlisle designs and the Barrett designs were not identical, close similarities in the sequence, shape, relative space and configuration of rooms and their grouping under a single roofline were sufficient for a finding that Carlisle had reproduced a substantial part of the Barrett designs.
This case highlights the need for special care in adapting features used in competing designs, especially housing designs and architectural plans.
Hall & Wilcox has experience in advising property developers, architects and designers on the protection and enforcement of copyright and other related IP issues.
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