New South Wales Dairy Corporation v Murray Goulburn Co-Operative Company Limited

The New South Wales Dairy Corporation sought special leave to appeal from a decision of the Full Federal Court. The Full Federal Court had set aside an order made by Justice Gummow, which had expunged the trademark "Moo" from the Register of Trademarks. The dispute concerned the interpretation of section 28 of the relevant Act, which governs the registration of trademarks.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the Full Federal Court had correctly applied the principles established in the case of *Riv-O-Land* to the facts of this case. Specifically, the court had to determine whether section 28 of the Act required the various paragraphs within it to be read conjunctively, rather than disjunctively, as had been suggested by the *Riv-O-Land* decision. This interpretation was crucial for deciding whether the trademark "Moo" should have been expunged from the register.

The Full Federal Court reasoned that Justice Gummow had erred in distinguishing the present case from *Riv-O-Land*. The Full Court held that the approach taken in *Riv-O-Land*, which involved reading the paragraphs of section 28 conjunctively by eliding the word "or", was correct and applicable. They found that any factual differences between the cases did not provide a sufficient ground to depart from this construction. Consequently, the Full Court asserted the authority of *Riv-O-Land* and found that the trademark "Moo" should not have been expunged.