Purax Feather Holdings Pty Ltd v Microsoft Corporation

Purax Feather Holdings Pty Ltd (Purax) brought proceedings against Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) in the Federal Court of Australia. Purax alleged that Microsoft had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in contravention of section 52 of the *Trade Practices Act 1974* (Cth) (now section 18 of the *Australian Consumer Law*). The dispute concerned representations made by Microsoft regarding the capabilities and compatibility of its Windows operating system and related software.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether Microsoft's representations about its software constituted misleading or deceptive conduct. Specifically, the court had to determine if a reasonable consumer, in the position of Purax, would have been misled or deceived by the information provided by Microsoft concerning the performance and integration of its products with Purax's existing IT infrastructure.

Justice Forno found that Microsoft had not engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct. His Honour reasoned that the representations made by Microsoft were not of a character that would mislead or deceive a reasonable consumer. The court applied the established legal principles for assessing misleading or deceptive conduct, which require a consideration of the likely effect of the conduct on the target audience. In this instance, the court concluded that the information provided by Microsoft, when viewed in its entirety and in the context of the reasonable consumer's understanding, did not create a false or misleading impression.