CPL Notting Hill Pty Ltd v Microsoft Corporation (No 2)

The parties involved in the case CPL Notting Hill Pty Ltd v Microsoft Corporation (No 2) were CPL Notting Hill Pty Ltd and Microsoft Corporation. The dispute was centred around a claim for damages for copyright infringement. The matter was heard in the High Court of Australia. The court was tasked with reviewing the decision of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia in relation to the original trial of the case.

The legal issues that the court had to decide centred around whether the primary judge had made findings beyond the pleadings and without sufficient or any evidence, and whether the primary judge's reasons were insufficient. The court had to determine whether the appeal should be allowed and whether the matter should be remitted to the Federal Circuit Court for re-hearing.

The court found that the primary judge had indeed made findings beyond the pleadings and without sufficient or any evidence. The court also found that the reasons given by the primary judge were insufficient. As a result, the appeal was allowed, and the orders made by the primary judge on 29 August 2018 were set aside. The matter was remitted to the Federal Circuit Court for re-hearing by a judge other than the primary judge. The court also ordered that the costs of the first trial be costs in the second trial, subject to any order of any Court that hears any retrial. Additionally, the respondents were ordered to pay the appellants' costs of the appeal, including the costs reserved on 26 September 2018, and to pay to the fourth appellant within one business day the amounts in the respondents’ solicitor’s trust account, plus accrued interest on that amount, into an account to be advised by the solicitor for the fourth appellant.