Britt Allcroft (Thomas) LLC v Miller [2000] FCA 699

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Britt Allcroft (Thomas) LLC v Miller [2000] FCA 699 TRADE PRACTICES – application to restrain use of business name – whether applicants have goodwill in character of Thomas the Tank Engine and associated characters – whether respondent's use of shop name The Thomas Shop connotes an association with applicants when respondent sells exclusively products licensed by applicants to be manufactured – whether misleading and deceptive conduct – whether passing off – alleged representation by respondent that shop associated with the applicant. TRADE PRACTICES – application to restrain use of business name – use of name in circumstances represented association with another entity – use of disclaimer of association on promotional material and inside shop – whether disclaimer effectively removes any suggestion of association between respondent's business and applicants. TRADE MARKS – application to restrain use of signage including logo – whether signage and logo substantially identical or deceptively similar to applicants registered marks – whether applicant's marks infringed – whether s 122(1)(b) of Trade Marks Act available whether signage and logo indicates the kind of or some other characteristic of goods or services – whether signage and logo in fact indicate only the kind of or some other characteristic of goods or services. Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) s 52 Fair Trading Act 1987 (SA) s 56 Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) ss 120(2)(b), 122(1)(b)(i) Trade Marks Act 1955 (Cth) s 64(1)(b) Business Names Act 1996 (SA) The Kettle Chip Company Pty Ltd v Apand Pty Ltd (1993) 46 FCR 152 applied Apand Pty Ltd v The Kettle Chip Company Pty Ltd (1994) 52 FCR 474 applied Pacific Dunlop Ltd v Hogan (1989) 23 FCR 553 applied Wingate Marketing Pty Ltd v Levi Strauss & Co (1994) 49 FCR 89 referred to Musidor BV v Tansing (1994) 52 FCR 363 referred to Erven Warnick Besloten Vennootschap v J Townend & Sons (Hull) Ltd [1979] AC 731 referred to Campomar Sociedad Limitada v Nike International Ltd (2000) 169 ALR 677 applied Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation v South Australian Brewing Co Ltd (1996) 66 FCR 457 referred to Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation v South Australian Brewing Co Ltd (1996) 34 IPR 247 referred to Hogan v Pacific Dunlop Ltd (1988) 83 ALR 403 cited Pacific Dunlop Ltd v Hogan (1989) 23 FCR 553 cited Sony Music Productions Ltd v Tansing (trading as Apple House Music) (1993) 27 IPR 640 cited Sony Music Productions Ltd v Tansing (trading as Apple House Music) (1993) 27 IPR 649 cited Australian Woollen Mills Ltd v F S Walton and Co Ltd (1937) 58 CLR 641 applied Gardenia Overseas Ptc Ltd v The Garden Co Ltd (1994) 29 IPR 485 followed Caterpillar Loader Hire (Holdings) Pty Ltd v Caterpillar Tractor Co (1983) 77 FLR 139 referred to Levi Strauss & Co v Wingate Marketing Pty Ltd (1993) 43 FCR 344 referred to Johnson & Johnson Australia Pty Ltd v Sterling Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd (1991) 30 FCR 326 cited Commonwealth of Australia v Verwayen (1990) 170 CLR 394 cited BRITT ALLCROFT (THOMAS) LLC and BRITT ALLCROFT (THOMAS) LIMITED v ROBYN LEANNE MILLER trading as THE THOMAS SHOP NG 446 OF 1998 MANSFIELD J 30 MAY 2000 ADELAIDE