Maeder v Busch

The appellant, Maeder, sought to appeal a decision of the Supreme Court of South Australia, which had found his letters patent invalid. The patent, granted for an improved process and means for producing permanent waves in human hair, claimed the use of a sulphide solution, specifically a hydrosulphide solution, and the warming of the hair to approximately 100 degrees Celsius. The respondents, Busch and Anton, were sued for infringement.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the claims made in Maeder's patent were valid, specifically concerning novelty and prior public commercial user. The court was also asked to consider whether a method for treating the human body, as opposed to an appliance or substance, could be protected under patent law.

The court affirmed the decision of the Supreme Court of South Australia, holding that Maeder's patent claims were invalid due to prior common knowledge and prior public user. Evidence presented established that sulphide solutions were known and used in hairdressing for permanent waving prior to the patent's grant, and that the application of heat, including temperatures around 100 degrees Celsius, was also common practice. The court accepted the trial judge's findings that the patent lacked novelty and had been subject to prior public commercial use.