Quanta Software International Pty Limited v Computer Management Services Pty Ltd [2000] FCA 969

Quanta Software International Pty Limited v Computer Management Services Pty Ltd [2000] FCA 969

The applicant satisfied O 15A r 6 because the respondent's acknowledgement that UNISON used portions of EUNICE modules provided reasonable cause to believe the applicant may have a copyright infringement claim; the 18 July 1996 letter did not necessarily negate that claim; the relevant information about how EUNICE...

Source-derived case information.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
21 July 2000
Procedural Posture
Application Pursuant to Federal Court Rules O 15 a R 6 for Verified Preliminary Discovery / Hearing of Application for Preliminary Discovery Before Commencement of Any Substantive Copyright Infringement Proceeding
Outcome
Application for preliminary discovery granted in a narrowed form with confidentiality conditions; respondent ordered to pay fifty per cent of the applicant's costs of the application.
Legal Topics
['preliminary Discovery' 'verified Discovery' 'computer Software Source Code' 'copyright Infringement' 'exclusive Licence' 'confidentiality Regime for Inspection' 'reasonable Inquiries Under FCR O 15 a R 6']
['practice and Procedure' 'copyright' 'evidence'] ['preliminary Discovery' 'verified Discovery' 'computer Software Source Code' 'copyright Infringement' 'exclusive Licence' 'confidentiality Regime for Inspection' 'reasonable Inquiries Under FCR O 15 a R 6']

Source-derived case record

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Procedural Posture

Application Pursuant to Federal Court Rules O 15 a R 6 for Verified Preliminary Discovery / Hearing of Application for Preliminary Discovery Before Commencement of Any Substantive Copyright Infringement Proceeding

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether there was reasonable cause to believe the applicant had or may have a right to obtain relief in the Court for infringement of copyright in EUNICE software.' 'Whether the applicant, after making all reasonable inquiries, lacked sufficient information to decide whether to commence proceedings.' "Whether the respondent had or was likely to have documents relating to whether the applicant had the right to obtain relief and whether inspection would assist the applicant's decision." 'Whether any discovery ordered should be limited by confidentiality conditions or to inspection by an independent expert.' 'Whether the categories of documents sought were too broad and should be limited.']

Ratio Decidendi

The applicant satisfied O 15A r 6 because the respondent's acknowledgement that UNISON used portions of EUNICE modules provided reasonable cause to believe the applicant may have a copyright infringement claim; the 18 July 1996 letter did not necessarily negate that claim; the relevant information about how EUNICE modules were used was in the respondent's files and the applicant had made reasonable inquiries by requesting documents from the respondent; and contracts and source codes would assist the applicant to decide whether to commence proceedings. Discovery was therefore ordered, but narrowed to contracts for the preceding three years and relevant source codes, subject to...

Court Disposition

Application for preliminary discovery granted in a narrowed form with confidentiality conditions; respondent ordered to pay fifty per cent of the applicant's costs of the application.

Orders

  • ["The respondent give verified discovery by 2 August 2000 of contracts relating to UNISON software or any other software distributed by the respondent which incorporates EUNICE modules or portions of EUNICE modules, entered into during the period of three years preceding the orders, and all source codes in the...