Wellcome Foundation Ltd v V.R. Laboratories (Australia) Pty Ltd [1980] FCA 33

Federal Court of Australia|1980-03-24|Before: Deane JJ, Franki J, Deane J

Practice - Discovery - Convention Patent - Whether experimental

work of inventor before priority date should be discovered.

THE WELLCOME FOUNDATION LIMITED v. V. R, LABORATORIES (AUST. )

IN THE FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY No. G. 78 of 1979 GENERAL DIVISION )

ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION

Oo R DER JUDGES MAKING ORDER: Bowen C.J., Franki and Deane JJ.

The appellant is to pay the respondent's costs of the appeal.

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY) No. G78 of 1979 )

ON APPEAL from the Supreme Court of New South Wales Equity Division

Appellant (Plaintiff) AND: V.R. LABORATORIES (AUST.) PTY. LIMITED Respondent (Defendant)

BOWEN C.J.: I agree with the reasons given and conclusions

reached by Franki J. and would dismiss the appeal with costs.

I certify that this and the nil preceding pxges are a Lrue copy of th mon t

Asseciate - oo La Dated: o&h- 3. Fo. \ Cg KO 4 LA ZY

NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY } No. G 78 of 1979 ) GENERAL DIVISION )

ON APPEAL FROM THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES EQUITY DIVISION

LIMITED Appellant (Plaintiff) AND: V.R. LABORATORIES (AUST. ) PTY. LIMITED

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT DEANE J: I agree with the judgment of Franki J.

I cerlify that Us and the preceding panes «re a true copy of the reasons fcr Judgment heroin of

) NEW SOUTH WALES DISTRICT REGISTRY) No. G. 78 of 1979

Appellant (Plaintiff) AND: V.R. LABORATORIES (AUST.)PTY. LIMITED Respondent (Defendant)

This is an appeal from orders made by a judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in relation to discovery.

The appellant, the Wellcome Foundation Limited, is the proprietor of patent no. 459109 for "Improvements in or relating to injectable therapeutic compositions." The appellant is the

plaintiff in an action in the Supreme Court of New South Wales

against the respondent, V.R. Laboratories (Aust.) Pty. Limited, for infringement of the patent. The respondent has counter Claimed for revocation of the patent and seeks a declaration that it is and at ail material times has been invalid and an order that it be revoked. The particulars given in support of the

counter claim, so far as is relevant to this appeal, are:

(a) that the complete specification does not comply with the

(b) that the invention, so far as claimed in each claim, was obvious and did not involve an inventive step, having regard to what was known or used in Australia on or

(c) the invention, so far as claimed in each claim, was not novel in Australia on the priority date of each claim. Particulars of prior publication were then given and embraced eight Australian patent specifications and

(da) the invention, so far as claimed in each claim, is not

No particulars were given in relation to the defence that each claim was obvious. The first claim in the

"l.An aqueous injectable preparation, as herein defined, which comprises a suspension of a finely divided potentiator, as herein defined, at least 993 of the particles of potentiator in the suspension having a largest dimension less than 50p, in an aqueous solution of a pharmceutically acceptable water soluble salt of a sulphonamide with a strong base, the ratio of sulphonamide to potentiator being within the range from 20:1 to O.1:1 (W/W) and the pH of the preparation being greater than 9.75."

It is not, however, necessary in these proceedings to

The learned judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales had before him a motion by the defendant for certain orders in relation to discovery and he made orders in the following

"1. The Plaintiff file and serve a further and better affidavit of discovery in these proceedings.

The said further and better affidavit of discovery shall include inter alia documents in the following classes:-

(a) Documents relating to research and development and experimental work of the claimed invention both before and after the priority date of the subject letters patent;

(b) Documents relating to the provisionsal application for the patent and documents relating to the application for the complete patent, as the case may be, both in the United Kingdom and in Australia insofar as they contain matters relevant to (a) above. -

In addition his Honour limited the second order which he made by

"Documents coming into existence after the priority date should be discovered if they refer to research and development and experimental work of the claimed invention before that date; and if the order 2(a) sought is so understood it should properly be made. But the making of such an order will not oblige the plaintiff to discover documents not relevant to work before the priority date."

The patent was obtained under those provisions of the Patents Act relating to convention applications and the basic

application was made in Great Britain and had a convention

The appellant's main argument in the appeal was that there was no evidence before the primary judge and therefore before this Court concerning the state of the art at the relevant time in England even though there was evidence concerning the state of the art at the relevant time in Australia. The argument then proceeded that the evidence of any experimental work carried out for the patentee was irrelevant unless it could be shown that at the priority date the state of the art in England was

substantially the same as the state of the art in Australia.

The second argument advanced by the appellant was that

it was also necessary to show how close the inventor was to "an

unimaginative skilled technician" so that the relevance of his experiments could be evaluated. The third argument was based on the submission that the primary judge had a discretion in the matter and he should not have exercised his discretion in favour

The Court of first instance had before it not only the pleadings and particulars but also affidavits from witnesses, apparently expert in the field, dealing with technical matters and filed by both parties as relevant on the question of obviousness. These affidavits were filed pursuant to an order of

the Court that expert evidence be given upon affidavit.

It is first necessary to consider the principles applicable in relation to discovery. The Court of Appeal in The

Compagnie Financiere et Commerciale du Pacifique v. The Peruvian

Guano Company (1882) 11 9.B.D. 55 considered the matter and Brett

"Tt seems to me that every document relates to the matters in question in the action, which not only would be evidence upon any issue, but also which, it is

reasonable to suppose, contains information which may - not which must-

either directly or indirectly enable the parties requiring the affidavit either to advance his own case or to damage the case of his adversary."

In Halsbury's Laws of England Fourth ed. Vol. 13 para. 38 the

above passage is cited and it is followed by the following:

"Documents relate to matters in question in the action whether they are capable of being given in evidence or not, so long as they are likely to throw light on the case."

(1969) 43 A.L.J.R. 363 Windeyer J. had to consider this question of discovery in relation to an action for infringement of a convention patent. His Honour referred to High Court Rules order 32 rr. 8 and 18 and pointed out that it was essential to the obtaining of an order for discovery and for inspection that the documents in respect of which it was sought must be related to the matter in question in the proceedings. His Honour then

"Tt may be that documents can be said to relate to a matter in question in the proceeding if they may fairly lead to a train of enquiry which would help to establish the case of the parties seeking discovery...But the documents to be discoverable must be related in some way to some question in issue. What matters are in question in the proceedings must depend upon the pleadings, including of course the particulars of objection."

In Mulley v. Manifold (1959) 103 C.L.R. 341 at p. 345

"Only a document which relates in some way to a matter in issue is discoverable, but it is sufficient if it would, or would lead to a train of enquiry which would, either advance a party's own case or damage that of his adversary."

As to discovery see generally American Cyanamid Co. v.

Ethicon Ltd. [1978] R.P.C. 667; Halcon International Inc. v. The

Shell Transport and Trading Co. Ltd. [1979] R.P.c. 459 at pp.

464-465 and Beecham Group Ltd. v. Bristol-Myers Co. (1979) V.R.

The question of what documents must be discovered is a different question to what interrogatories must be answered. The

unreported case of Pulbrook Bros. Pty. Ltd. v. C.W. Donney & Son

Pty. Limited before Barwick C.J. deals with interrogatories.

There is no doubt that the pleadings and affidavits which were before the primary judge show that the patentee is alleging that the relevant invention claimed was arrived at after

experimentation. No argument to the contrary was addressed to

At least in a case where the patentee claims that an invention has been made after relevant experiments have been conducted there is ample authority for the proposition that the evidence of the inventor concerning the work he did before he

arrived at the invention is admissible. In Lightning Fastener Co.

Ltd. v. Colonial Fastener Co. Ltd. [1934] 51 R.P.cC. 349 at p.

"Tt is certain. that the general mechanical idea of combining in this class of work ail the necessary operations in one machine was novel and a

perusal of the evidence of the inventor Sundback given before the Trial Judge

satisfies their Lordships that, so far from the combination being obvious, it

was only after years of work at the problem of how to produce stringers that the combination was recognised to be desirable or found to be possible, and that the inventive element necessary to constitute subject-matter is made sufficiently evident.

See also Sunbeam Corporation v. Morphy~Richards (Australia) Pty. Ltd (1961) 35 A.L.J.R. 212 at p. 219 (Windeyer J.) and Howaldt

Ltd. v. Condrup Ltd. [1937] 54 R.P.C. 119 at pp. 131-132 (Farwell

In addition, at this stage, we do not have to consider whether any of the material for which discovery is sought would be admissible or not at the trial. The knowledge of the experiments conducted by the inventor may be very useful in the formulation of a line of cross-examination of technical witnesses called by the appellant in the action. The question of whether any documents discovered are admissible in evidence would be a matter for the trial judge at the relevant time. I see some difficulty in a view that the admissibility would necessarily depend upon knowing the state of the art in Great Britain, or establishing that the state of the art there was the same as in Australia at the relevant date, or the extent to which the inventor could be classified as an "unimaginative skilled technician." The question now before us is not as to the admissibility' of the evidence of the inventor in relation to obviousness but whether what the inventor did should be discovered. This is very different to the question which arose

in Lucas Industries Ltd. v. Chloride Batteries Australia Ltd.

Certainly so far as discovery is concerned I am satisfied that it is, relevant for the respondent to know what experiments the inventor 'carried out in Great Britain. This knowledge would assist the respondent in examining the alleged invention against the background of the state of the art in Australia as particularised in the particulars of objection. Because of the view I'take "it is not necessary to consider whether there was any evidence before the primary judge of the state of the ,art in Great Britain. For the same reason it is not necessary to consider whether the order of the primary judge would be justified because of the allegations in the particulars of objection of inutility or that the specification did not

comply with the requirements of s.40 of the Patents Act 1952.

I pass now to the third argument that the primary judge should have declined to make the orders he made because the Material sought to be discovered was of insufficient importance. For the reasons I have expressed it seems to me that the respondent was entitled to the orders made and that the judge properly exercised any discretion which he had. This is certainly not a case where this Court would be justified in

substituting its discretion for that of the primary judge. No point was taken before the primary judge of any possible difference between experiments carried out by the

[ certify that this and the -an MAC 09) ' oreceding pages are a true copy of the Reasons for Judgment herein of his Honour

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Judgment (87 paragraphs)