Apple Inc. & Anor v Samsung Electronics Co. Limited & Anor

Apple Inc. and Apple Pty Ltd (collectively, Apple) brought proceedings against Samsung Electronics Co. Limited and Samsung Electronics Australia Pty Ltd (collectively, Samsung) in the Federal Court of Australia. The dispute concerned allegations by Apple that Samsung had infringed certain of its registered designs relating to tablet computers. Apple sought interlocutory injunctions to restrain Samsung from further infringing its registered designs.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether Samsung's accused products infringed Apple's registered designs. This required the court to consider the scope of protection afforded by Apple's registered designs and to compare those designs with the features of Samsung's products. A key aspect of this determination involved assessing whether the overall visual impression of Samsung's products was substantially similar to, or differed not merely in trivial respects from, Apple's registered designs, having regard to the degree of resemblance and the extent to which the registered designs were original.

In his Honour's reasoning, Heydon J applied the principles governing the assessment of design infringement. His Honour considered the importance of the "eye of the beholder" test, focusing on the overall visual impression of the designs. The court examined the individual features of Apple's registered designs and compared them with the corresponding features of Samsung's products, paying particular attention to the degree of originality in Apple's designs. His Honour concluded that Samsung's products did not infringe Apple's registered designs, finding that the overall visual impression of the accused products was not substantially similar to Apple's registered designs.

Consequently, the court ordered that Apple's application for interlocutory injunctions be dismissed.