That's My Idea!

Follow one person's experience in the civil justice system, which resolves disputes between individuals or organisations.

The idea

At a basketball game, Mei Hsu sees Sam Dunk, a famous basketball player, signing autographs for some fans. He is wearing headphones and a CD Walkman and seems more interested in the music he is listening to than talking to his fans. The fans also seem to be interested in what music Sam is listening to.

Mei has an idea. What if you combined music programmes on the radio with sports personalities? What if you got sports celebrities to host radio programmes? Mei gets so excited she rushes home to write down her idea about "Sports DJs".

Through her media studies, Mei remembers meeting Max Million, the owner of national radio station Pulse FM. Max has been in the industry for more than twenty years and is very experienced in managing radio programming. Mei contacts Max and sets up a meeting to discuss her idea.

When they meet, Mei first asks Max to give an undertaking to keep this information confidential. Max agrees and promises not to give the idea to any rival companies.

Mei presents her idea. She thinks her idea is original and brilliant, but Max Million seems unimpressed - he even looks like he is falling asleep through Mei's presentation. Mei is devastated when Max declines to go further with her idea - in particular, he's concerned about where the funding would come from.

Mei writes off the experience to her youth and naivety and forgets about it after a couple of weeks.

Six months later, Mei turns on her favourite radio station, Hush FM, and is surprised to hear Sam Dunk hosting the "Hip-Hop Hour". Her amazement grows as she listens to "Smooth Silky Sounds", hosted by a soccer star, "Techno Times", hosted by a tennis player, then "Rugby Rock", hosted by a rugby player. Mei checks out the Hush FM website and finds that the programmes are being simulcast over the Internet. She's really upset when she sees that Hush FM is a subsidiary company of Pulse FM, owned by Max Million.

Mei is outraged - she feels that her idea has been stolen.

Getting legal help

Mei doesn't really know what to do. The High Court building is just across the road from her media studies school, so she decides to start there, and she tells the person on the counter her story. The court staff can't give legal advice, so they suggest that she talks to a lawyer. More.

When Mei explains her story to the lawyer, he advises her to make an application for an interim injunction to stop the radio station using her idea without her authorisation. He also suggests that she applies for legal aid (a grant or loan that covers the legal costs of a proceeding) as she is a student with little money. Based on Mei's story, her lawyer thinks she has a claim of about $500,000. This claim would have to be filed in the High Court, which can deal with claims over $200,000.

Mei agrees to her lawyer starting the case in the High Court, and she is granted legal aid.

What if Mei wasn't granted legal aid?

Proceedings are filed

Mei's lawyer (also called her "counsel") files the proceedings in the High Court for Mei (now referred to as "the plaintiff") to sue Max Million (now referred to as "the defendant").

Mei's lawyer files these documents:

• An application for interim injunction - a document that shows precisely what it is that Mei is applying for.
• An affidavit in support - a document that is "sworn" and shows evidence why Mei's application should be successful.
• A notice of proceeding - a document that informs the defendant that a claim has been filed against them.
• A statement of claim - a document that shows details of the claim that the plaintiff is bringing against the defendant (often referred to as the substantive claim).
• An application to have the fee waived - a document that can be filed by a party who claims that:
  • they cannot pay the filing fee on a document, or
  • they are legally aided, or
  • the case has significant public interest.

Interim injunction considered

The interim injunction is dealt with on an urgent basis. The documents are processed in the registry and given to a High Court Judge to consider the application for interim injunction. Among other things, the Judge considers the loss that the radio station would suffer if they were made to stop broadcasting the Sports DJ shows against the loss to Mei for not being compensated for having her idea used.

The Judge also considers the fact that Mei has legal aid. If she is not successful with her claim, she would not be in a position to compensate the costs the defendant would have paid to defend the claim.

The Judge decides that he will not grant the injunction as he thinks an adequate remedy would be damages (a sum of money that would compensate any grievance suffered by Mei).

Although Mei is not successful with her injunction her lawyer advises her to continue with her substantive claim.

What if the injunction were granted?

Initial conference

Mei's claim is allocated an initial conference where all the preliminary issues are discussed and directions are timetabled. (A direction is a task that the parties have to complete to prepare the case for trial. A timetable is a list of dates when directions must be completed.)

An Associate Judge, who deals with the preliminary issues in cases like this, conducts the initial conference. Mei is interested in what will happen to her claim, so she chooses to attend the conference with her lawyer. Max Million and his lawyer are also present.

The Associate Judge thanks Mei and Max for their attendance and explains that they are not required to be at the conference if they don't want to be present, as their counsel would normally handle the preliminary issues, directions, and timetable. The Associate Judge, Mei's counsel, and Max's counsel discuss what is required for the case.

The Associate Judge makes directions about what will happen from here and offers a judicial settlement conference. This is a forum where the parties have the opportunity to informally sit down together and attempt to settle the case in the presence of a Judge who is acting as a referee, giving guidance and setting rules to ensure that the conference is being dealt with fairly.

Mei and Max discuss the matter with their counsel and tell the Associate Judge that a settlement conference would not help them and that they need a decision from the court to satisfy them.

What if both parties agreed to attend a settlement conference?

The Associate Judge then sets the matter down for trial before a High Court Judge who has jurisdiction to give a decision on a substantive matter. The trial is allocated a date of hearing, and counsel and the parties go away to prepare for the case.

The High Court trial

It's the day of the trial - the final hearing where a decision will be made on the claim.

Mei is very nervous, but her lawyer has done all the preparation work that is required, and they are ready for trial. Max is not ready - although his lawyer had asked him several times for documents, Max wasn't able to find anything that his lawyer had asked for.

In the courtroom, Mei's lawyer sits at the front counsel's bench and lays out all of his papers. There is a court taker sitting in front of the Judge's bench. Their role is to open the court, pass documents to the Judge, and swear in any witnesses who will give evidence. (The witness must take the oath before giving their evidence, to make sure that they tell the truth.)

The jury box, where twelve jurors would sit, is empty. Mei asks her lawyer if there would be a jury at this trial. He says no and explains that jury trials in civil matters are extremely rare. More

The court taker leaves the courtroom, and Mei's lawyer puts on his robe. A side door opens to the courtroom, and the court taker announces: "Silence. All stand for His Honour the Queen's Judge." This makes Mei stand to attention, even though she has never been in a court before.

Mei's lawyer bows to the Judge and introduces himself as Mr Liant for the plaintiff. At that moment, the front door of the courtroom flies open and Max and his lawyer come rushing in. "Court starts at 10 a.m.!!" comes from the bench. Max's lawyer apologises repeatedly as he organises his papers at his table.

Mei's lawyer starts with his opening submission and then calls his witness. "Mei Hsu, please take the stand."

Mei moves to the witness stand, and the court registrar asks her to take the oath.

Mei's lawyer asks his questions (a process called "examination"), Max's lawyer asks his questions ("cross-examination"), and then Mei's lawyer asks more questions ("re-examination"). Mei gives her answers honestly, clearly, and confidently.

Max's lawyer then opens his client's defence to Mei's claim and calls his only witness, Max Million, to the stand. Max goes through the same process as Mei. Max is very vague about his evidence and tries to move away from the question and change the subject. This does not impress the Judge.

After the witnesses have given their evidence, each counsel gives closing submissions and the Judge retires to make his decision. The Judge says that he will reserve his decision, which gives him time to consider all the issues in the claim and the defence. As well as the evidence and submissions given at the trial, the Judge also has access to libraries of law and researchers who can help with examining particularly difficult case law.

The Judge's decision

A week later, the Judge's decision is ready to be delivered. Often a reserved decision is released in writing, but this time the Judge chooses to deliver his decision orally. Both parties and counsel are summonsed to a courtroom to hear the Judge's decision.

The Judge has decided that, based on the evidence before him and the submissions given by counsel and the law, he will give judgment for the plaintiff with costs.

Mei has been given judgment for the sum of $500,000.00 because her idea (intellectual property) had been used without her permission and Max Million has received direct benefit from that. Mei has won her claim, and she does not have to pay any costs.