Thornton Hall Manufacturing Ltd v Shanton Apparel Ltd (No 2) - [1989] 1 NZLR 239

Copyright — Artistic work — Infringement — Ladies' clothing — Dress — Plaintiff's employees designed a dress, making in the process sketches, pattern and a sample dress — Plaintiff then marketed the dress to retailers — Plaintiff claimed that a dress marketed by defendant was a cheaper version of its own dress and claimed infringement of its copyright — Whether sample dress was a model and therefore an artistic work — Whether work combining previously known elements in a novel way was original — Whether sales to retailers amounted to issuing reproductions to the public — Whether plaintiff owned copyright in the dress when the work was produced by a team of its employees — Whether, despite minor differences, defendant's dress was a substantial reproduction of plaintiff's dress — Whether defendant had infringed plaintiff's copyright — Copyright Act 1962, ss 2, 3, 7, 9 and 12.