Polo - Ralph Lauren - Copyright Claim Comes Unstitched

In a recent decision of the Federal Court in The Polo/Lauren Company v Ziliani Holdings [2008] FCA 49, Polo/Lauren failed in its attempt to restrain the importation into and sale of clothing in Australia bearing the fashion house's signature polo player logo. The case involved the question of whether a symbol, when lawfully embroidered overseas into the external surface of clothing, is protected by copyright within the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) so that it may not be imported for sale in Australia without the consent of the person entitled to the Australian copyright.

The respondent, Adam Ziliani, operated a clothing retail business in Sydney which sold designer labels manufactured in the US such as Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and DKNY, at a discount price. This practice is known as parallel importation, whereby genuine goods are sourced from overseas markets at a lower