Nouveau Fabrics Ltd. v Voyage Decoration Ltd. & Anor, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, April 28, 2004, [2004] EWHC 895 (Ch)
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Nouveau Fabrics Ltd. v Voyage Decoration Ltd. & Anor, Court of Appeal - Chancery Division, April 28, 2004, [2004] EWHC 895 (Ch)
Neutral Citation Number: [2004] EWHC 895 (Ch.)
Case No: HC02C01528IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICECHANCERY DIVISIONRoyal Courts of JusticeStrand, London, WC2A 2LLDate: 28th April 2004Before :THE HONOURABLE MR JUSTICE MANN- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Between :- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Mr Guy Burkill Q.C. (instructed by Berwin Leighton Paisner) for the ClaimantDr Heather Lawrence (instructed by Goodman Derrick) for the First and Second Defendant Hearing dates: 23rd - 26th and 29th March 2004- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -JudgmentMr Justice Mann :Introduction1. This is an action in which the Claimant maintains a claim for infringement of its copyright in artistic works, namely design drawings for a fabric called "Pineapple". The Claimant ("Nouveau") claims to be the owner of the copyright in certain original drawings because they were created by a Mr Nigel Thompson at a time when he was a UK citizen resident in the UK and employed by Nouveau. That is the first strand of the claim to copyright. The second strand is a claim by assignment taken shortly before the hearing in this action from a French company known as Gratry Lorthiois ("Gratry"). The first defendant ("Voyage") is said to have infringed the copyright by (in short) importing and selling fabric which is said to infringe; until the day before the trial started, there was also an allegation that it infringed the copyright by itself copying, but that allegation was abandoned by the time the case was opened before me. The Second Defendant ("Dunelm") is also alleged to have infringed by possessing and selling infringing copies in the course of its business.The Subject Matter of the Copyright2. Nouveau is a company which designs and sells furnishing fabrics. Mr Thompson joined the company as an employee on 2nd July 1990, and was responsible for, amongst other things, design development and graphic design. He is now its Managing Director. Between January and June 1992 he created the design which lies at the heart of this action. He wanted to create a design of small repeated motifs which could be used on fabrics and wallpaper, and if possible which could also be used as the company's logo. He toyed with a number of small classical designs and in the end decided on something which is in effect a stylised version of an "architectural" pineapple. I say "architectural" because it is a useful way of describing it which has been deployed in this action. In its "architectural" form, often seen on such things as gateposts, the pineapple is a conical or rounded-top shape, resting on a base of some leaves. Mr Thompson's design, after some refinement, develops this theme. The appearance is that of a pineapple with eight segments, effectively cupped by a stylised leaf arrangement which then in turn sits on a small pedestal with a rounded top, concave sides and a flat base. The pineapple itself is represented by seven trapezoid shapes representing the segments of the pineapple, arranged in a 1-2-3-2 formation starting at the top. The leaf arrangement which cups the shape has a curved leaf shape, curving outwards, at either side, with a central leaf projecting up into the pineapple shape and which is flanked by the two trapezoids which form the bottom row of the pineapple shape. One of the striking features of the shape is tha...See the full content of this document
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