University of Sydney v ObjectiVision Pty Limited

In the Federal Court of Australia, the University of Sydney brought proceedings against ObjectiVision Pty Limited regarding licensing agreements and copyright infringement. The University sought declarations that the licensing agreements had terminated, and damages for alleged breaches. ObjectiVision counterclaimed for declarations of the continued validity and exclusivity of the licensing agreements, and damages for breach of contract, copyright infringement, and misuse of confidential information. The court was required to determine whether the licensing agreements had been validly terminated, whether there had been breaches of contract, estoppel, and copyright, and the appropriate quantum of damages, if any.

The court found that the licensing agreements were validly terminated as ObjectiVision failed to assign certain patents as a condition precedent. Furthermore, the court held that the University's refusal to perform the agreement did not render compliance with the condition precedent futile. As for the contractual obligations, the court found no breach of the best endeavours and good faith requirements in the Shareholders' Agreement as the University had dealings with a third party instead of offering an opportunity to ObjectiVision, and this was in line with the licensing agreements. The court also held that there was no estoppel as the University had not made a clear and unambiguous representation that it would not enforce performance criteria under the licensing agreements. In relation to copyright, the court found that the computer program in question was a work of joint authorship, but the requirement for fractional ownership could not be established due to an uncertain number of joint authors and invalid assignments of copyright. The court also held that there was no material reproduction of the computer source code.

The court found in favour of the University on all counts, and the cross claim was dismissed with costs. The University was granted a declaration that the licensing agreements had terminated, and ObjectiVision's claim for damages for breach of contract, estoppel, and copyright infringement was dismissed. The court also held that causation was not established for the claim of reliance damages, and an exclusion clause applied to the claim for damages. The court ordered the parties to confer and provide draft short minutes of order within 21 days, and any submissions on costs or form of orders to be filed and served within specified timeframes.