Ken Done & Associates and Kenneth Stephen Done v Janet Teuma

The parties to this proceeding were Ken Done & Associates and Kenneth Stephen Done (the applicants) and Janet Teuma (the respondent). The dispute concerned the respondent's alleged infringement of the applicants' copyright in a painting titled "Yellow House". The matter came before the Federal Court of Australia.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the respondent had infringed the applicants' copyright in the painting "Yellow House" by creating and displaying a work titled "Yellow House" which the applicants alleged was substantially similar to their original work. This involved a determination of whether the respondent's work was an adaptation or reproduction of the applicants' copyright material.

The court applied the principles of copyright infringement, focusing on whether the respondent's work had reproduced a substantial part of the applicants' original artistic work. The court considered the visual similarities between the two works, assessing whether the respondent had taken the essential features and expression of the applicants' painting. The court found that the respondent's work was not a substantial reproduction of the applicants' copyright material, and therefore, no infringement had occurred.

The court ordered that the applicants' application be dismissed.