BARNES V. JOSE 8/1935

soa,

ment Printer, Melbourne.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA.

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT. be heafree Karte

BARNE: v. JO 4

GME. STARKE Jo

The plaintiff is the registered proprietor of Letters Patent No. 20737 of 1929 for improved means for attaching wrist straps to watches and the like. The action is for infringement by the defendant of those Letters Patent.

It appears that watches have been secured to the wrist of the wear- er by various methods, One method was by means of a strap with a cup sewn on or attached to it in which a watch might be placed; this was a somewhat cumbersome device, Another was wes by means of straps, in var- ious forms, attached to or passing through lugs made on the sidedof wat- ches and buckled on to the wrist. There were straps threaded through the lugs; straps looped through the lugs and stitched together, called in the evidence the "sewn-on " strap; straps simply looped on to the lugs

and called the "loop-on" strap; straps looped orlthe lugs and fastened

-with a stud attached to the strap, called the"stud-on" strap; straps with

a metal plate placed in a pocket, formed by the strap and a piece of lea- ther sewn on to the strap, and bent over so as to forma sort of hook: this type is called the "hook-on" strap. All these forms were commonly known and more or less used in Victoria before the date of the Letters patent sued on, J must also refer to another strap called the "Tab" strap. It is made with a metal clip placed between the strap and its lining. One end of the clip projects beyond the lining and is bent over so as to form a tab or hook, whilst at the other end is a prong,which is passed through the lining and bent over so as to fepm fasten the clip to the strap. It is not certain when these "Tab" straps first came into Victoria, but the witnesses Bright and Cutler satisfy me that they were being offered for sale and sold in Victpria before the end of 1928. They did not prove very satisfactory, and do not appear to have been much used. The fact, however, that men of standing such as Bright and Cutler remember them well enough satisfies me that these straps were commonly known and were used to some extent in their trade. The existence of the English specification (Exhibit '0') relating to this form of strap, and the dates stated upon it (which it was agreed I might regard as facts) do not, I think, render this conclusion improbable, The applicant for