Aktiebolaget Hassle v Pacific Pharmaceuticals Ltd - [1991] 3 NZLR 186

Practice and procedure — Discovery, production and inspection — Confidentiality — Patent extension — Applicant for patent extension filed financial information for which it claimed confidentiality except to counsel and expert adviser — Opponent to extension, a competitor, sought inspection of confidential material by its managing director — Whether application for extension of patent was inquisitorial rather than adversarial in nature — Whether in inquisitorial proceedings the public interest was a determining factor — Whether Court might be disadvantaged if confidential material were withheld to prevent inspection by competitor — Whether it was necessary for managing director to inspect material — Whether managing director should be permitted to inspect material — Patents Act 1953, s 31.