Sidameneo (No 456) Pty Ltd v Alexander [2011] NSWCA 418

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Sidameneo (No 456) Pty Ltd v Alexander [2011] NSWCA 418 Hearing dates: 8/11/2011; 9/11/2011; 10/11/2011 Decision date: 21 December 2011 Before: Beazley JA at [1]; Basten JA at [2]; Young JA at [3] Decision: 1. Appeal dismissed save that the question of costs below is reserved. 2. Appellant to pay the respondents' costs of the appeal. 3. Appellant to file and serve submissions with respect to its appeal on costs issues by 20 January 2012 with respondents to file any response by 3 February 2012. 4. Decision on costs below to be dealt with on the papers. [Note: The Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 provide (Rule 36.11) that unless the Court otherwise orders, a judgment or order is taken to be entered when it is recorded in the Court's computerised court record system. Setting aside and variation of judgments or orders is dealt with by Rules 36.15, 36.16, 36.17 and 36.18. Parties should in particular note the time limit of fourteen days in Rule 36.16.] Catchwords: RESTRAINT OF TRADE - restrictive covenants - meaning of "proprietary" interest - whether there was a legitimate proprietary or commercial interest - whether goodwill held by each party has to be in the same industry to be protected

RESTRAINT OF TRADE - restrictive covenants - whether a covenant is reasonable reasonableness judged at date of creation but may include contemplated expansion - reasonableness depends on facts in each case - covenant in this case imposed usual minimum restriction of one year, three kilometres - legitimate interest found therefore, prima facie, it can be protected - minimum restriction allowed