ODMA appeal of Federal Court?s decision possible

When contacted by Insight yesterday (March 7), ODMA CEO Ms Finola Carey (listed as Finola Border in the court documents) said, “As this matter is still before the courts we will not be commenting at this time.”Given a verdict was reached last Friday – which dismissed the injunction ODMA had obtained against Expertise Events – such a statent could indicate the association was either considering, or had already made an appeal.However, when asked for clarification, Carey had not responded at the time publication.ODMA’s lack of a response is in direct contrast to Expertise Events, which issued a media release early Monday via managing director Gary Fitz-Roy.According to the release, “Justice Burley of the Federal Court of Australia ruled against ODMA, ordered that the injunction be discharged in its entirety and found that ODMA had not made out its claims for an injunction.”This is supported by a transcript of the hearing, which quotes Justice Burley as saying that the evidence did not support ODMA’s contention that there had been a use of its information in relation to exhibitors.“There is no evidence to suggest that the ODMA Information has been utilised in order to solicit visitors,” he said.Justice Burley added, “The evidence adduced by ODMA raised concerns that somehow the possession of the ODMA Information would divert exhibitors from ODMA 17. That concern does not rise above speculation.{{image3-a:r-w:300}}“The applicant has donstrated the use of some of the ODMA Information in relation to visitors. However, whilst that assists the applicant in donstrating an arguable case, the harm that such use is likely to cause lies at the low end of the spectrum.”ODMA had alleged that SILMO Sydney had breached its intellectual property rights and ODMA would suffer financial loss in the market, however, according to the media release, “Justice Burley said that the evidence was that claimed losses would be because of the competition that a new fair brings rather than any alleged misuse of ODMA’s intellectual property.”A number of optical suppliers have been mentioned in the court’s Reasons for Judgent, which can be read here.Read media release: ODMA actions are not in its mbers’ interests