Please be advised that the High Court building in Canberra will be closed to the public for an event from Wednesday, 19 November to Friday, 21 November 2025.

JT International SA v Commonwealth of Australia
British American Tobacco Australasia Limited v The Commonwealth

[2012] HCA 43
Judgment date
Case number
S409/2011
S389/2011
Before
French CJ, Gummow, Hayne, Heydon, Crennan, Kiefel, Bell JJ
Catchwords

Constitutional law (Cth) – Legislative power – Section 51(xxxi) – Acquisition of property on just terms – Plaintiffs hold registered and unregistered trade marks and other intellectual property rights in relation to tobacco product packaging – Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 (Cth) regulates appearance of tobacco product packaging and use of trade marks on such packaging – Whether plaintiffs' intellectual property rights, goodwill and rights to determine appearance of tobacco products constitute "property" for purposes of s 51(xxxi) – Whether Act effects an acquisition of plaintiffs' property otherwise than on just terms.

Words and phrases – "acquisition of property", "intellectual property", "just terms", "trade marks".

Constitution – s 51(xxxi).

Tobacco Plain Packaging Act 2011 (Cth) – ss 15, 18-27, 30-48.

Competition and Consumer (Tobacco) Information Standard 2011 (Cth) – ss 1.5, 3.1, 4.1, 9.13, 9.19-19.20.

Tobacco Plain Packaging Regulations 2011 (Cth) – Divs 2.1-2.4, 3.1.

Files
43.rtf (1.18 MB)
43.pdf (688.1 KB)