The first respondent's trade mark infringement
35 By its statement of claim, CTI alleged that Green Energy had infringed CTI's trade marks and that each of the individual respondents was liable for the infringements as joint tortfeasors. Section 120(1) of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) ("TMA") provides:
A person infringes a registered trade mark if the person uses as a trade mark a sign that is substantially identical with, or deceptively similar to, the trade mark in relation to goods or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered.
36 Whether a sign is being used as a trade mark is referable to the definition of a trade mark in s 17, which states:
A trade mark is a sign used, or intended to be used, to distinguish goods or services dealt with or provided in the course of trade by a person from goods or services so dealt with or provided by any other person.
As Sundberg J said in Global Brand Marketing Inc v YD Pty Ltd (2008) 76 IPR 161 at 171 [45], in the context of goods:
Use "as a trade mark" in s 120(1) is use of the mark as a "badge of origin" in the sense that it indicates a connection in the course of trade between goods and the person who applies the mark to the goods. See Johnson & Johnson Aust Pty Ltd v Sterling Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd (1991) 30 FCR 326 at 341 and 351 … That is the concept embodied in the definition of "trade mark" in s 17.
37 In considering whether two trade marks are substantially identical, they should be compared side by side, with their similarities and differences being noted and assessed, "having regard to the essential features of the registered mark and the total impression of resemblance or dissimilarity that emerges from the comparison": see The Shell Co of Australia Ltd v Esso Standard Oil (Australia) Ltd (1963) 109 CLR 407 ("Shell Co") at 414.
38 The question of deceptive similarity requires a different comparison to be made. There is no side by side comparison. Section 10 of the TMA states:
For the purposes of this Act, a trade mark is taken to be deceptively similar to another trade mark if it so nearly resembles that other trade mark that it is likely to deceive or cause confusion.
39 In considering deceptive similarity, the comparison is between the impression based on the recollection of the applicant's mark that "persons of ordinary intelligence and memory would have" and the impression that such a person would have from the defendant's alleged use: see Shell Co at 415; Australian Woollen Mills Ltd v FS Walton & Co Ltd (1937) 58 CLR 641 at 658; Southern Cross Refrigerating Co v Toowoomba Foundry Pty Ltd (1954) 91 CLR 592 at 594-595; Registrar of Trade Marks v Woolworths Ltd (1999) 45 IPR 411 at 428 [50]; and Food Channel Network Pty Ltd v Television Food Network GP (2010) 86 IPR 437 at 460-463. It is sufficient if persons who only know one of the marks and have perhaps an imperfect recollection of it are likely to be deceived: Aristoc Ltd v Rysta Ltd [1945] AC 68 at 86-87. Whilst it is necessary to show a tangible danger of deception or confusion, it is enough if an ordinary person entertains a reasonable doubt. See Crazy Ron's Communications Pty Ltd v Mobileworld Communications Pty Ltd (2004) 209 ALR 1 ("Crazy Ron's") at 17-19 [73]-[79].
40 Members of the public are more likely to recall the general impression created by the mark. To quote Lord Radcliffe in de Cordova v Vick Chemical Co (1951) 68 RPC 103 at 106, "in most persons the eye is not a accurate recorder of visual detail, and … marks are remembered rather by general impressions or by some significant detail than by any photographic recollection of the whole". If the impugned mark incorporates the idea or the essential features of the registered trade mark, it may infringe that registered trade mark. See Jafferjee v Scarlett (1937) 57 CLR 115 at 121-122; Sports Café Ltd v Registrar of Trade Marks (1999) 42 IPR 552 at 559; and Saville Perfumery Ltd v June Perfect Ltd (1939) 58 RPC 147 at 174. In assessing deceptive similarity, questions of aural impression may be important: see Crazy Ron's at 17-18 [75]. If a registered trade mark includes words that can be regarded as an essential feature of the mark, another mark that incorporates those words may well infringe the registered trade mark: Crazy Ron's at 19 [79]. See also Mars Australia Pty Ltd v Sweet Rewards Pty Ltd (2008) 81 IPR 354 at 375-376 [95]-[96].
41 By their amended defence (at par [15]) the respondents admitted that Green Energy registered the following business names in the following places at the following dates:
CAPITAL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATIONS in New South Wales on 28 January 2010;
CTI in New South Wales 28 January 2010;
CTI CANBERRA in the Australian Capital Territory on 5 February 2010; and
CAPITAL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATIONS in the Australian Capital Territory on 23 February 2010.
42 The New South Wales registrations identify the nature of Green Energy's business as "PROGRAMMING OF BUILDING AUTOMATION SYSTEMS FOR COMMERCIAL AND DOMESTIC HOMES ETC".
43 The respondents applied to cancel the New South Wales registrations on 22 December 2010: see amended defence, par [15]. The ACT registrations were cancelled on 23 December 2010: see amended defence, par [15].
44 CTI did not argue, however, that mere registration of a business name was sufficient to constitute trade mark infringement. Instead, CTI relied on other uses of CTI's Registered Trade Marks, as detailed in the following two paragraphs.
45 In their amended defence (at par [15]), the respondents admitted that:
a. Prior to on or about July 2010, Green Energy used stickers about 20cm × 5cm with the words "GEMSol … CTI, Saving our Earth by Saving your Energy, www.gemsol.com.au";
b. Prior to on or about July 2010, Green Energy used stickers about 7.5cm × 4cm with the words "GEMSol … CTI: Green Energy Management Solutions - GEMSol; Capital Technology Integrations - CTI";
c. Prior to on or about 17 November 2010, Green Energy used stickers about 7.5cm × 4cm with the words "GEMSol … CTI: Green Energy Management Solutions - GEMSol; Capital Technology Integrations - CTI";
d. Prior to on or about July 2010, Green Energy used business cards for Mr Whaling and Mr Wade, which included the text "GEMSol", "Wholly Owned Divisions: GEMSol, Capital Technology Integrations, CTI, CTI Canberra";
e. Prior to on or about 17 November 2010, Green Energy used business cards for Mr Whaling and Mr Wade, which included the text "GEMSol", "Wholly Owned Divisions: GEMSol, Capital Technology Integrations, CTI, CTI Canberra";
f. Prior to on or about 24 June 2010, Green Energy used letterhead, which included the text "GEMSol: CTI", "GEMSol/CTI Canberra" and "Wholly Owned Divisions: GEMSol, Capital Technology Integrations, CTI, CTI Canberra";
g. Prior to on or about 17 November 2010, Green Energy used letterhead, which included the text "Wholly Owned Divisions: GEMSol, Capital Technology Integrations, CTI, CTI Canberra";
h. Prior to on or about 18 June 2010, Green Energy used email sign-offs, which included the text "GEMSol … CTI" and "Capital Technology Integrations - CTI";
i. Prior to on or about 17 November 2010, Green Energy's website, www.gemsol.com.au included metatags of "CTI", "cti", "CTI Canberra" and "capital technology"; and
j. Prior to on or about 17 November 2010, Green Energy "used and gratuitously handed out to some clients, suppliers and friends A5 pads with the words "GEMSol … CTI" and "Capital Technology Integrations - CTI" and after that date the same pads were used internally by Green Energy.
46 In addition to the above uses, CTI adduced evidence that Green Energy used one or more of CTI's Registered Trade Marks on:
a. quotations and invoices (where "CTI" and "CTI Canberra" are listed as "Wholly Owned Divisions") issued by Green Energy to:
i. O'Donnell Griffin for work performed at the Canberra International Airport;
ii. Brindabella Homes Pty Ltd for work performed at a private residence;
iii. Clipsal for work to be conducted at the Farrer Primary School;
iv. Project Lighting Pty Ltd for work performed at a private residence;
v. Switched On for work performed at the Qantas Multi-user Terminal (MUT) and Lounges at the Canberra International Airport;
vi. Steve Patrick Electrical Pty Ltd for work performed at the Conder Primary School;
vii. Nexus Electrical Pty Ltd for work conducted at the Marybyrnong Primary School; and
viii. O'Donnell Griffin for work to be conducted at the Level 4 Qantas MUT Carpark.
b. advertising on the Bing search engine where the relevant text read:
MORE ON THIS PAGE
Also known as CTI, GEMS and Gemsol. GEMSol Canberra contracts building lighting automation solutions, lighting management, energy control and energy management. GEMSOL's head office is based in Canberra, Australia.
c. Green Energy's website located at www.gemsol.com.au where the relevant text read:
"Green energy management solutions incorporating capital technology integrations, Canberra, ACT. Also known as CTI, GEMS and Gemsol. GEMSol Canberra contracts building lighting automation solutions, lighting management, energy control and energy management.
47 In this case, if Green Energy has used any CTI's Registered Trade Marks as a trade mark, there is no dispute that the mark was used in relation to goods or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered. That is, the use was in relation to electrical, communication, security and automation services, which are the services in respect of which CTI's Registered Trade Marks are registered.
48 The use of CTI's registered trade mark "CTI" on the Green Energy website was capable of being regarded as use of the sign "CTI" as a trade mark: compare Sports Warehouse Inc v Fry Consulting Pty Ltd (2010) 186 FCR 519 ("Sports Warehouse") at 549 [127]. In this case, I accept that it was so used since it was apparently intended as a "badge of origin" used in the course of trade to connect the services on the webpage with the person who has applied the "CTI" mark to those services. That is, I accept that, as CTI argued, the use of the sign "CTI" was in context indicative of a trade source.
49 The use of CTI's registered trade mark "CTI" in advertising on the Bing search engine was also use of the sign "CTI" as a trade mark since the use was as a "badge of origin", which in the course of trade purported to connect the advertised services with a particular trade source.
50 As indicated above, Green Energy issued quotations that bore the words "CTI", as well as "CTI Canberra" and "Capital Technology Integrations" (the latter two expressions under the heading "Wholly Owned Divisions"). The use of these words was use as trade marks - that is, as signs used in the course of trade to connect the quoted services with the person who applied the mark, thus distinguishing them from services of the same kind provided by other persons. The use of the signs in question was indicative of a particular trade source.
51 For much the same reasons, the use of the words - "CTI", "Capital Technology Integrations" on stickers; "CTI", "Capital Technology Integrations", "CTI Canberra" on business cards and on letterhead, as well as the use of the words "CTI" and "Capital Technology Integrations" on email sign-offs - constituted use of the signs in the course of trade as trade marks. The use of the signs was indicative of a particular trade source - namely, the person who applied the marks: see Mantra Group Pty Ltd v Tailly Pty Ltd (No 2) (2010) 183 FCR 450 ("Mantra Group") at 462 [50] (b).
52 For the same reasons, the use of the words "CTI" and "CTI Canberra" (under the heading "Wholly Owned Divisions" on invoices issued by Green Energy would also amount to use as trade marks, providing that the use was in the course of trade: see TMA, s 17. For the reasons that follow, I consider that the use was in the course of trade.
53 In Sports Warehouse the Court held (at 559 [170]) that the use of the relevant trade mark upon invoices was not in the course of trade for the purposes of s 17 of the TMA, because, by the time an invoice left the supplier with the articles to which it related, the customer had paid for the purchase and the articles had been consigned to the customer. The circumstances under consideration in Sports Warehouse were, however, different from those under consideration in this case.
54 In other commercial contexts, the use of a sign as a trade mark on an invoice has been held to constitute a use in the course of trade: see, for example, Brother Industries Ltd v Dynamic Supplies Pty Ltd (2007) 73 IPR 507 at 518-522 [40]-[57] and Pioneer Computers Australia Pty Ltd v Pioneer KK (2009) 176 FCR 300 at 306 [25] and 337 [185]. CTI maintained that the industry in which it operated was small - especially in Canberra; and that, in consequence, the use of the relevant signs on the final invoices were relevant to potential future business and, in this sense, remained in the course of trade. This may well be so, although it is unnecessary to determine the point on this summary judgment application. What Green Energy's invoices made clear was that, in many cases, the invoices were interim invoices, amounting to the use of the relevant sign as a trade mark in the course of on-going trade, as opposed to trade that was, as in Sports Warehouse, completed.
55 Further, the individual respondents adduced no evidence as to the commercial context in which Green Energy issued its invoices, including the stage or stages during a project when it invoiced its customer in respect of its services. In my view, it was incumbent on them in the circumstances of the case to adduce some such evidence: see par [33] above. For present purposes, therefore, I am satisfied that there was a sufficient showing that the use of the words "CTI" and "CTI Canberra" (under the heading "Wholly Owned Divisions") on invoices issued by Green Energy amounted to use as trade marks.
56 I am not, however, persuaded that the gifts of A5 pads with the words "GEMSol … CTI" and "Capital Technology Integrations - CTI" and/or the subsequent use of the pads within Green Energy should be regarded as a trade mark use. In so far as the articles were supplied as gifts or used internally within Green Energy, for the purposes of this summary judgment application, I am not sufficiently persuaded that their use was in the course of trade: see Sports Warehouse at 558 [164].
57 CTI also argued that the use by Green Energy's website of the metatags of "CTI", "cti", "CTI Canberra" and "capital technology" amounted to use of these signs as trade marks. Metatags are words placed in the source code of the website and its pages by the person in charge of the website. When users of the internet with an interest in services of the kind offered by CTI search the internet for any of these names ("CTI", "cti", "CTI Canberra" and "capital technology") the metatags capture the search and throw up the website or the page in respect of which the metatags have been placed as part of an answer to the search: see Kailash Center for Personal Development Inc v Yoga Magik Pty Limited [2003] FCA 536 at [19], [33]. Metatags are not displayed on the website itself. Rather, they are used by search engines (such as Google) to assist in indexing and ranking websites when displaying search results: see Mantra Group at 456-7 [27]-[28].
58 In written submissions filed before the hearing, CTI argued that Green Energy had "used the words as metatags to attract customers who were looking for a particular commercial source of services by reference to the name 'CTI'" and therefore used the words as a trade mark. CTI provided further written submissions, with leave, after the hearing.
59 Counsel for CTI was unable to refer me to any Australian authority on the question whether the use of a registered trade mark as a metatag in the source code of a website constitutes use "as a trade mark". Instead, counsel referred me to some United States decisions (Brookfield Communications, Inc v West Coast Entertainment Corporation 174 F.3d (9th Cir. 1999) ("Brookfield"); Roberts-Gordon, LLC v Superior Radiant Products, Ltd, 85 F. Supp. 2d 202 (W.D.N.Y. 2000); and S&L Vitamins, Inc v Australian Gold, Inc 521 F. Supp. 2d 188 (E.D.N.Y. 2007) ("S&L Vitamins")); and to a decision of the English Court of Appeal (Reed Executive Plc v Reed Business Information Ltd [2004] RPC 40 ("Reed")).
60 As counsel for CTI noted, the United States authorities must be treated with some caution since they concern the application of a different statutory regime from that in this country. The plaintiff in a US trade mark infringement case must, it seems, demonstrate that the impugned use "is likely to cause confusion … as to the affiliation, connection or association of [the defendant] with [the plaintiff], or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of [the defendant's] goods, services, or commercial activities by [the plaintiff]". See 15 U.S.C. s 1125(a)(1)(A). Contrast TMA, s 120(1), set out at par [35] above. Under the United States federal statute, the US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, held in Brookfield (at 1065) that a trade mark infringement was constituted through metatag use. This approach is not universal throughout the United States. Thus, in S&L Vitamin, a judge of the Second Circuit District Court (Seybert J) observed (at 199) that: "the general rule in this Circuit is that use of a trademark in keywords and metatags, where the use is strictly internal and not communicated to the public, does not constitute … 'use' and, therefore, does not support a[n] [infringement] claim", although "[c]ourts in other circuits … have generally found 'use' to exist in such situations". In S&L Vitamin, the Court held (at 202) metatag use was not 'use' of a trade mark for trade mark infringement purposes.
61 In Reed, the Court of Appeal upheld an appeal (see [2003] RPC 12) against a finding that there was infringement by the use of the plaintiff's registered mark as a metatag, having regard to the evidence adduced at trial. The Court of Appeal did not decide the question whether or not the use of a registered mark in a metatag could amount to "use as a trade mark", although, in obiter, suggested that it would not.
62 I accept that the use of CTI's Registered Trade Marks as a metatag could assist Green Energy to gain benefit from CTI's goodwill. However, s 120(1) of the TMA requires "the person uses as a trade mark a sign that is substantially identical with, or deceptively similar to, the trade mark in relation to goods or services in respect of which the trade mark is registered" before there can be an infringement. I do not accept that the use of any of CTI's Registered Trade Marks in Green Energy's metatags would constitute a trade mark infringement for the purposes of s 120(1). Metatags are invisible to the ordinary internet user, although their use will direct the user to (amongst other websites) Green Energy's website. Once at the Green Energy website, then, in the ordinary course, the internet user will be made aware that the website is concerned with Green Energy's services. It cannot, therefore, be said that the use in a metatag of CTI's Registered Trade Marks is a use that indicates the origin of Green Energy's services. Thus, metatag use is not use as a trade mark: compare Coca-Cola Co v All-Fect Distributors Ltd (1999) 96 FCR 107 at 115-6 [20].
63 I am satisfied that the mark "CTI" as used by Green Energy (discussed above) is substantially identical with one of CTI's Registered Trade Marks, namely trade mark 1162008 for the word "CTI" for services in Class 37. Further, having regard to the evidence, the mark "CTI Canberra" is also substantially identical with CTI's mark 1162008. The addition of "Canberra" is wholly descriptive and does not relevantly distinguish the marks.
64 Further, having regard to pars [38]-[40] above, I am satisfied that the mark "CAPITAL TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATIONS" is deceptively similar to one of CTI's Registered Trade Marks, namely trade 1148516 "COMPLETE TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATIONS". This is because both marks consist of three words; the last two words are identical; and the first words of both marks start with the same letter and are visually and aurally similar. Both first words are words of common English usage (as opposed to made-up words) and they are both used descriptively in a laudatory sense. That is, the word "CAPITAL" as used in Green Energy's mark has two meanings - one, geographical/political (and non-distinctive) and the other, qualitative. Having regard to the evidence as to their use, an ordinary person, who only knew one of the marks and had an imperfect recollection of it, would be likely to be deceived.
65 Having regard to the matters discussed above, I am satisfied that there has been a clear prima facie infringement by Green Energy of CTI's Registered Trade Marks. The respondents have not pleaded any substantive defences to the infringement claim.