Alfresco's and law suits...

From The Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/ ... 17357.html

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An alfresco is the same by any name

Liz Porter
October 7, 2007

ACCUSATIONS about the copying of an alfresco eating area design have triggered four Federal Court cases by a Melbourne-based project home builder against four of its fiercest competitors.

In each case, the Melbourne firm, Porter Davis Homes, issued proceedings for copyright infringement. Known as an "alfresco quadrant", the design comprises a kitchen, dining area, rumpus room and family room around an outdoor courtyard under a single roof line.

Two of the cases have just been resolved. One, an action against Hermitage Properties, ended late last month in a settlement, with terms favourable to Porter Davis. The other, against industry heavyweight Metricon, was fought for 13 sitting days last March, with both sides represented by five-member legal teams led by silks. A landmark judgement in favour of Porter Davis was handed down 10 days ago. But damages, which could be in the millions, are yet to be decided.

The third and fourth cases, against Carlisle Homes and Dennis Family Homes, will be heard next year.

The Metricon judgement found that the "alfresco quadrant" had been used in five of Metricon's house designs. The "alfresco" area first featured in Porter Davis' "Seattle" home, which opened in early 2000. The Metricon display homes opened between 2002 and 2004.

The court was told of four visits by senior Metricon staff to Porter Davis display homes. The Porter Davis and Metricon designs were "almost identical", the court found, and the copying was "deliberate" and "conscious". It also found that Metricon had a "corporate culture which accepted the copying of competitors' designs".

According to Tony Watson of Middletons, the lawyers for Porter Davis, Metricon could be facing a damages bill "into the millions". The first step will be a return to court to obtain orders for "discovery", so that Porter Davis can find out how many of the copyright-infringing houses have been built.

In cases like this, the party damaged by the breach of copyright can either claim damages or take a percentage of profits earned by the guilty party.

Metricon spokesman Gideon Kline said that the company was preparing an appeal.

Mr Watson said the judge's findings on Metricon would likely restrict the arguments available to Carlisle and Dennis.

"In any copyright case, you still have to prove that someone has had reference to another person's work to create their own work. One of the major defences that Carlisle or Dennis may have taken — and that Metricon took — was that this work in itself, as created by the Porter Davis draftspeople, was not sufficiently original," he said. "That defence has been removed, because the judge has made a finding that there was sufficient complexity in (the alfresco area) to make it an original work able to be protected by copyright."

According to the lawyer, the Metricon judgement is "one for the precedent textbooks", because it helps clarify the definition of copying a "substantial part" of a design.

"There is still this myth that if you change (a design) 10 per cent, then that's OK. If you have had reference to another design and you take a substantial part, then you have infringed copyright. But the question is: What is a 'substantial' part? This case helps clarify where that line is."

Dean Morrison, a director of Carlisle Homes, and Dennis Family Homes executive general manager Peter Levinge did not want to comment on the cases.

Interesting.

LOL I know.

Dont call your outdoor area an alfresco ... you might get sued!

Well my 'outdoor' area is actually of the 'quadrant' design that is in question. Built by the very people filing the lawsuit.

What a crock of crap.!!!
Alfresco is not an Australian invention or word.
Get out of the courts and get a life.
Steve

Steve!

You should be a judge...imagine the money we would save in court fees!!

in that case you may use you "alfresco"

No matter what we may think of the ruling, it is a big win for PD in more ways than one. Apart from the compensation they will get out of it, there is also an image improvement. PD is coming out of this as an industry leader, while the other 3 companies look like nothing more than copy cats who are chasing the trends rather than setting them.

Forget the trends -

Nothing is easier to start than a trend.

Steve

Go PD

It's funny actually because when a couple of friends asked who we were building with and we told them with PD they their response was, "oh, their the ones with the alfresco's aren't they"......For a long time in Melb I think PD houses were renowned for having incorporated an alfresco area into their house designs.

I wonder who was the first builder that thought it would be a good idea to put a BEDROOM in a house. They could sue everyone who's put one in since then.

It's not a question of copying other designs, but there are only so many ways to arrange the boxes.

What i found most interesting was the comment in the Age article that the Big M had a "corporate culture which accepted the copying of competitors designs"

Not something too many of us would want to be known for!!

DQQ

I love this! It's HILARIOUS!!

We are building with ****** (hehe i should call them and tell them that they are now know as "asterix, asterix, asterix, asterix Homes!!!)

and we have a lovely..ahem...'alfresco' area under the roof line which is surrounded by rumpus and dining and it looks nothing like the PD homes. Alfresco dining has been around for AGES!! I suppose it's the 'under the roofline' part that PD hate.

Well good on PD. They are proving themselves to be TOP SHELF

i think we might sell and re-build...actually NO WAY!

Oh and in one of my site visits i commented to my SM about how there are hardly any **** homes in our estate and that they are all PD and he wasn't impressed.

"we are STILL V's #1 builder!!!" he excliamed

we'll see, my prettys!! muhahaha!!!

oh and i think that the main house design in question was a Cobirn (spelt incorrectly just in case!!)

Yeah just read another article about the law suit looks like the "coburn" was one of the designs in question and it has also been removed of the M's site!!

Issue really appears to revolve around a pattern of behaviour from Big M . Its senior staff visited on four separate occassions the PD display homes, then come up with designs that were "almost identical" in a manner the court found was "deliberate" and "conscious" coupled with their "corporate culture which accepted the copying of competitors designs"

The court decided the defense of the design not being "sufficiently original" is not applicable as "their was sufficient complexity (in the alfresco area) to make it an original work" therefore subject to copyright!

Cant wait for the appeal

DQQ

WHAT!? OMG i loved that design i am going to investigate post haste!!

the coburn won HIA Best display home award in 2005! hmmm scandalous!

Thanks for the topic Matt!

what a load of XXXX!! so is someone in spain going to sue PD for copying there design they have been using for hundreds of years?

This must be one of their ways to be in the 'limelight' just to get more sign-ups during pre-xmas so as to fill their'waiting lists' post x-mas... Another desparate sales trick.