New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Groundless threats (designs act s34)

Legal area

Court

18 Dec 2015

PETERSON V LUCAS [2015] NZCA 627

Citation

[2015] NZCA 627
Court

Court of Appeal

The appeal is dismissed because the new proceeding is an abuse of process barred by issue estoppel and Henderson v Henderson principles; the pleaded s34 Designs Act claim had no real prospect of success because there was no threat to bring proceedings for infringement of copyright in a registered design and the proposed fresh evidence was neither fresh nor cogent.
24 Apr 2015

PETERSON v LUCAS [2015] NZHC 721

Citation

[2015] NZHC 721
Court

High Court

The statement of claim is an abuse of process and barred by issue estoppel because the matters alleged (illegitimacy of the threat, duress, entitlement under s34/s74/Berne Convention) were raised or could and should have been raised and were finally decided by earlier High Court and Court of Appeal judgments which found no illegitimate threat or dishonesty; consequently the present claim must be struck out.