Australia Post has lost its drawn-out legal stoush with online mail rival Digital Post Australia. The Federal Court has just quashed an appeal filed by Australia Post more than a year after it first dismissed the mail giant's allegations of trademark infringement and misleading and deceptive conduct against Digital Post Australia.
Both providers announced their secured online mailbox services around March last year, with Digital Post Australia beating Australia Post's Digital Mailbox to the punch by a week. Australia Post responded by almost immediately taking its competitor to court, alleging trademark infringement and moving to force an interlocutory injunction. The injunction, case and subsequent appeal have all been dismissed.
Speaking with Print21 David Hynes, chairman Digital Post Australia, said, "It's a great outcome. We weren't going to be bullied by them. It was something that we had to defend, we never felt we did anything wrong. We were in the market ready to go, and Post got caught napping. They had to scramble to find a product and all the way along they've been responding to us getting in the market quickly."
According to a spokesperson Australia Post is considering its response to the judgement in due course, and that it is "disappointed with the outcome of this case as it leaves open the possibility of ongoing confusion for consumers."
Australia Post heralded the launch of the Digital Mailbox as part of its $2 billion Future Ready strategy to overhaul infrastructure in light of changed communication channels, spurred in part by an annual decline in mail volumes. Now at the end of its third year in transition, Australia Post reveals its addressed letter business has dropped by 6.4% in the last twelve months and its reserved mail business reported a loss of $147.4 million. This is a slippage of $33 million from last year's results.
For the first time in its 204-year history Australia Post is predominately a parcels business, since taking full ownership of StarTrack this year at a total investment of $401 million. Australia Post reported $5.9 billion revenue, and $312 million profit after tax.
Co-owned by Computershare and Zumbox, Digital Post Australia claims around 1000 businesses are on board to use their service to digitally distribute shareholder information and rates notices. Australia Post has announced only a small handful of companies, including AMP, Yarra Valley Water and Australia Post's own services.
Both providers are currently making a play the secure government business. As of September Australia Post was conducting pilots with the Department of Human Services and the ATO. Digital Post Australia also reports that government interest is strong.