Read the full judgment text of HCA 002488/2006 on BabelCite. This High Court CFI judgment was delivered on 27 March 2008 before Hon Chung J.
Passing-off – video game strategy guide books – goodwill – misrepresentation – newspaper stall operators – whether plaintiffs proved reputation attaching to guide books in Hong Kong – whether use of trade name, get-up, and characters from video games constituted misrepresentation – classical trinity test under Reckitt & Colman v. Borden – Advocaat test under Warnink v. Townsend – goodwill must be in country concerned – declining pattern of guide book publications – third-party authored guide book market analogous to computer software manuals – abandonment of copyright and trade mark causes of action at trial – settlement of four actions – costs follow the event – party-and-party basis – actions not frivolous – claim dismissed against all non-settled defendants.
Legal issues: Whether plaintiffs established goodwill or reputation in the subject guide books in Hong Kong · Whether plaintiffs established misrepresentation by the defendants · Whether the defendant in HCA 2492/2006 sold the subject guide books · Whether costs should be on party-and-party or indemnity basis
Outcome: The plaintiffs' passing-off claim against all defendants (except those in the settled actions) was dismissed. The court found the plaintiffs failed to establish goodwill or reputation, and failed to establish misrepresentation.
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