Intellectual Property and Yacht Building

Here's a story from Australia;

John Swarbrick is a prominent boatbuilder based in W.A. He designed yachts for Australia's 1987 defence of the America's Cup. He's been building boats for most of his life.

A few years ago he designed and started manufacturing a beautiful, unique yacht he christened the JS9000. By 2003 he had sold 20 of them, each for between $50,000 and $60,000.

All was going well until a group of men (some of them John's ex-employees) decided to set up a rival operation and make exact copies of the boat.

John Swarbrick said you can't do that, that's copyright infringement. They responded, No, it isn't, copyright only applies to artistic works. A yacht is a functional object, the only way you can legally protect it is by registering your design under the Designs Act system. And you didn't.

John Swarbrick took them to court. He won in the Federal court. On appeal, three judges of the Federal Court upheld his victory. But just last month the High Court unanimously overturned their ruling.