Campaigntrack Pty Ltd v Real Estate Tool Box Pty Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Australia Federal only
• Judgment Date: 19 July 2021
• Neutral Citation: [2021] FCA 809
• Court: Federal Court
• Date: 19 July 2021

Federal Court of Australia

Campaigntrack Pty Ltd v Real Estate Tool Box Pty Ltd [2021] FCA 809

File number:	NSD 772 of 2017
Judgment of:	THAWLEY J
Date of judgment:	19 July 2021
Catchwords:	COPYRIGHT – alleged infringement of copyright in a cloud-based real estate marketing software – whether copyright subsisted in the source code, database, database tables, menu and PDF files of the software – whether the applicant owned the copyright – whether respondents infringed copyright – held the third respondent infringed copyright in some of the alleged works ; EQUITY – alleged misuse of confidential information –held third respondent misused confidential information to the extent the claims in copyright were made out against him ; CONTRACTS – alleged breach of contract – held fourth and fifth respondents breached the terms of the contract requiring passwords to be provided on payment of purchase price and that the software would not be modified after it was transferred to the applicant – alleged breach of undertakings – breach of undertakings not made out
Legislation:	Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) ss 10, 13, 14, 22, 31, 32, 36, 101, 115 Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) r 23.01
Cases cited:	Acohs Pty Ltd v Ucorp Pty Ltd(2012) 201 FCR 173 Ancher, Mortlock, Murray & Woolley Pty Ltd v Hooker Homes Pty Ltd (1971) 20 FLR 481 Australian Broadcasting Corporation v Lenah Game Meats Pty Ltd (2001) 208 CLR 199 Australian Securities and Investments Commission v Hellicar (2012) 247 CLR 345 Autodesk Inc v Dyason (No 2)(1993) 176 CLR 300 Blatch v Archer(1774) 1 Cowp 63 CA Inc v ISI Pty Ltd (2012) 201 FCR 23 Clarendon Homes (Aust) Pty Ltd v Henley Arch Pty Ltd (1999) 46 IPR 309 Coco v A N Clark (Engineers) Ltd [1969] RPC 41 Commercial Union Assurance Co of Australia Ltd vFerrcomPty Ltd (1991) 22 NSWLR 389 Computer Edge Pty Ltd v Apple Computer Inc (1968) 161 CLR 171 Coogi Australia Pty Ltd v Hysport International Pty Ltd(1998) 86 FCR 154 Dais Studio Pty Ltd v Bullet Creative Pty Ltd(2007) 165 FCR 92 Data Access Corporation v Powerflex Services Pty Ltd(1999) 202 CLR 1 Electricity Generation Corporation v Woodside Energy Ltd(2014) 251 CLR 640 Elwood Clothing Pty Ltd v Cotton On Clothing Pty Ltd(2008) 172 FCR 580 Francis Day & Hunter Ltd v Bron[1963] Ch 587 Gold Peg International Pty Ltd v Kovan Engineering (Aust) Pty Ltd(2005) 225 ALR 57 IceTV Pty Ltd v Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd (2009) 239 CLR 458 IPC Global Pty Ltd v Pavetest Pty Ltd (2017) 122 IPR 445 Jones v Dunkel(1959) 101 CLR 298 JR Consulting & Drafting Pty Ltd v Cummings (2016) 329 ALR 625 Ladbroke (Football) Ltd v William Hill (Football) Ltd[1964] 1 All ER 465 Metricon Homes Pty Ltd v Barrett Property Group Pty Ltd(2008) 248 ALR 364 Mount Bruce Mining Pty Limited v Wright Prospecting Pty Limited (2015) 256 CLR 104 Optus Networks Pty Ltd v Telstra Corporation Ltd (2010) 265ALR 281 Plaintiff M47/2018 v Minister for Home Affairs (2019) 265 CLR 285 Roadshow Films Pty Ltd v iiNet Ltd(No 2) (2012) 248 CLR 42 Rosebanner Pty Ltd v EnergyAustralia (2009) 223 FLR 406 SecuredIncome Real Estate (Australia) Ltd v St Martins Investments Pty Ltd (1979) 144 CLR 596 Streetscape Projects (Australia) Pty Ltd v City of Sydney (2013) 85 NSWLR 196 SW Hart & Co Pty Ltd v Edwards Hot Water Systems(1985) 159 CLR 466 Telstra Corporation Ltd v Phone Directories Company Pty Ltd (2010) 194 FCR 142 University of New South Wales v Moorhouse (1975) 133 CLR 1 University of Sydney v ObjectiVisionPty Ltd (2019) 148 IPR 1
Division:	General Division
Registry:	New South Wales
National Practice Area:	Intellectual Property
Sub-area:	Copyright and Industrial Designs
Number of paragraphs:	360
Date of hearing:	20-31 July 2020, 20-21 May 2021
Counsel for the Applicant:	M Green SC with W H Wu
Solicitor for the Applicant:	McLean & Associates
Counsel for the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Respondents:	H P T Bevan
Solicitor for the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Respondents:	Mills Oakley
Counsel for the Third Respondent:	The third respondent appeared in person

ORDERS

		NSD 772 of 2017
BETWEEN:	CAMPAIGNTRACK PTY LTD (ACN 142 537 988) Applicant
AND:	REAL ESTATE TOOL BOX PTY LTD (ACN 614 827 379) First Respondent ; BIGGIN & SCOTT CORPORATE PTY LTD (ACN 072 450 689) Second Respondent ; DAVID SEMMENS (and others named in the Schedule) Third Respondent

order made by:	THAWLEY J
DATE OF ORDER:	19 July 2021

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:

1. The parties confer with a view to providing within 14 days agreed orders giving effect to these reasons for judgment and for the further case management of the proceedings.

Note: Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

THAWLEY J:

A OVERVIEW	[1]
B THE FACTS	[6]
B.1 The DreamDesk system and relevant terminology	[6]
B.2 November 2014 to March 2015: Establishment of the DreamDesk venture	[13]
B.3 March to August 2015: Biggin & Scott move to DreamDesk	[16]
B.4 May 2016: Admission of infringement of Process 55’s intellectual property	[20]
B.5 Late May to July 2016: Negotiations to purchase Process 55; sale of DreamDesk	[27]
B.6 30 July to Mid-August 2016: Origins of Toolbox	[36]
B.7 Mid to Late-August: Biggin & Scott consider software providers; sale of Process 55	[70]
B.8 26 August to Early September 2016: Early development of Toolbox	[75]
B.9 5-7 September 2016: Variation of DreamDesk agreements; payment of purchase price	[82]

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