You are here:
AustLII >>
Databases >>
High Court of Australia >>
2009 >>
[2009] HCA 14
[Database Search]
[Name Search]
[Recent Decisions]
[Noteup]
[Download]
[Help]
IceTV Pty Limited v Nine Network Australia Pty Limited [2009] HCA 14 (22 April 2009)
Last Updated: 11 September 2009
HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA
FRENCH CJ,
GUMMOW, HAYNE, HEYDON, CRENNAN AND KIEFEL JJ
ICETV PTY LIMITED & ANOR APPELLANTS
AND
NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED RESPONDENT
IceTV Pty Limited v Nine Network Australia Pty Limited [2009] HCA 14
22 April 2009
S415/2008
ORDER
1. Appeal allowed with costs.
- Set
aside the order of the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia made on 8
May 2008, as varied on 20 August 2008, and in place
thereof order that the
appeal to that Court be dismissed with costs.
On appeal from the Federal Court of Australia
Representation
J M Ireland QC with S C G Burley SC and J S Cooke for the appellants (instructed
by Bartier Perry)
A J L Bannon SC with R Cobden SC and J M Hennessy for the respondent (instructed
by Gilbert & Tobin)
D K Catterns QC with A J Ryan and S M Rebikoff intervening as amicus curiae on
behalf of Telstra Corporation Limited (instructed
by Mallesons Stephen
Jaques)
R J Webb SC intervening as amicus curiae on behalf of Australian Digital
Alliance Limited (instructed by Baker & McKenzie)
Notice: This copy of the Court's Reasons for Judgment is subject to formal
revision prior to publication in the Commonwealth Law
Reports.
CATCHWORDS
IceTV Pty Limited v Nine Network Australia Pty Limited
Intellectual property – Copyright – Literary work –
Compilation – Infringement – Production by employees
of Nine Network
Australia Pty Limited ("Nine") of weekly schedules of television programmes to
be broadcast on television stations
within Nine Network ("Weekly Schedules")
– Information from Weekly Schedules used by third parties, with licence
from Nine,
to produce "Aggregated Guides" containing programme schedules for
various television stations – Production by employees of
IceTV Pty Limited
of electronic programme guide for television using information from Aggregated
Guides – Subsistence of copyright
in each Weekly Schedule admitted –
Alleged infringement of copyright by reproduction of substantial part of Weekly
Schedules
– Whether reproduction of "substantial part" – Quality of
part reproduced – Originality – Information/expression
dichotomy
– Appropriation of "skill and labour" – Relevance of skill and
labour devoted to programming decisions –
Relevance of competing interests
and policy considerations – Animus furandi.
Intellectual property – Copyright – Literary work –
Compilation – Subsistence – Need to identify author,
and time of
making or first publication, of work – Originality – Kind of skill
and labour required – "Sweat of
the brow" and "industrious collection"
compared with "creativity".
Intellectual property – Copyright – Literary work –
Compilation – Subsistence – Weekly Schedules produced
using computer
database – Whether database also work in suit – Whether Weekly
Schedules same work.
Words and phrases – "animus furandi", "author", "compilation",
"information/expression dichotomy", "originality", "skill and labour",
"substantial part".
Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), ss 9(3), 10(1), 14(1), 21, 22, 29, 31, 32, 33,
34, 35, 36, Pt III Div 9, Pt III.
Copyright Act 1911 (Imp), ss 1(1), 35(1).
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (UK), s 9(3).
Copyright Act 1976, 17 USC §§101, 102.
Copyright Act RSC 1985, ch C-42, s 2.
FRENCH CJ, CRENNAN AND KIEFEL JJ.
Introduction
- The
respondent, Nine Network Australia Pty Limited ("Nine"), is engaged in the
business of acquiring, distributing, selecting and
scheduling programmes to be
broadcast by various free-to-air television stations within the "Nine Network".
The scheduling of programmes
to be broadcast involves the use of a database on
Nine's computer network ("the Nine Database"). Approximately two weeks prior to
the commencement of each week of broadcasting, an employee of Nine supplies
certain third parties known as "Aggregators" with a schedule
of programmes to be
broadcast on Nine Network stations in that week (a "Weekly Schedule"). Each
Weekly Schedule is produced from
the Nine Database.
- Each
Weekly Schedule contains various elements, including particulars of the time and
title of programmes to be broadcast ("time
and title information"). The
Aggregators use the Weekly Schedule, together with comparable material provided
by other Australian
television broadcasters and independently obtained material,
to produce "Aggregated Guides", which are schedules of programmes to
be
broadcast on various television stations, for publication in various media.
- The
first appellant, IceTV Pty Limited ("IceTV"), commenced trading in 2005. It is
a wholly owned subsidiary of the second appellant,
IceTV Holdings Limited
("IceTV Holdings"). They are not broadcasters.
- The
primary business of IceTV is the provision, via the Internet, of a
subscription-based electronic programme guide for television
known as the
"IceGuide". When downloaded onto certain devices, which are available for
purchase by consumers in Australia, the IceGuide
displays details of programmes
scheduled to be broadcast by free-to-air television stations for the coming six
to eight days, including
stations in the Nine Network.
- Over
the period relevant to this appeal, when preparing the information to be
included in the IceGuide for a given day, employees
of IceTV used information
included in the IceGuide for a previous
day[1] and then
compared this with published Aggregated Guides. Where there was a discrepancy
as to the time and title information, the
IceGuide was amended to reflect the
Aggregated Guides in almost all cases. It is this use of the Aggregated Guides
that is in issue
in this appeal.
The proceedings
- This
appeal arises out of proceedings brought by Nine in the Federal Court of
Australia against IceTV and IceTV Holdings for infringement
of copyright.
Although Nine's case at trial was broader in several respects, relevantly to
this appeal Nine alleged at trial, on
appeal to a Full Court of the Federal
Court of Australia ("the Full Court") and on the first day of hearing in this
Court that:
each Weekly Schedule was a "compilation" and therefore a "literary
work", within the meaning of s 10(1) of the Copyright Act
1968 (Cth) ("the Act"); each was an "original" literary work, in which
copyright subsisted, within the meaning of s 32 of the Act; Nine was the
owner of that copyright; and IceTV infringed that copyright by taking part of
the time and title information from the
Aggregated Guides and including it in
the IceGuide, as this constituted a reproduction (albeit an "indirect
reproduction") in a material
form of a "substantial part" of the copyright work,
within the meaning of s 14(1)(b) of the Act. The claims involved alleged
reproduction of time and title information week by week. Nine sought
declaratory and injunctive relief
against IceTV and IceTV Holdings, as well as
damages or an account of profits and additional damages pursuant to s 115(4) of
the Act.
- For
their part, IceTV and IceTV Holdings accepted that copyright subsisted in each
Weekly Schedule as an original literary work.
However, they denied that IceTV
had reproduced, in a material form, a substantial part of any Weekly Schedule in
issue and denied
that reproduction from any Aggregated Guide was a reproduction
of any Weekly Schedule.
- Accordingly,
both the primary judge (Bennett
J)[2] and the
Full Court (Black CJ, Lindgren and Sackville
JJ)[3] dealt with
this matter on the basis that the subsistence of copyright in the Weekly
Schedules was admitted. The dispute was treated
below as one to be resolved,
first, by a determination of whether the time and title information which was
reproduced constituted
a "substantial part" of the Weekly Schedules and,
secondly, by consideration of the "indirect reproduction" issue. Both the
primary
judge and the Full Court essentially approached the question of whether
IceTV had reproduced a substantial part of any Weekly Schedule
by identifying
the "skill and labour" which was expended on creating the Weekly Schedules, then
asking whether IceTV had "appropriated"
Nine's skill and labour. The primary
judge and the Full Court reached opposite conclusions on the point essentially
because of different
approaches to identifying the relevant skill and labour in
question: the primary judge considered that skill and labour in making
programming decisions was not relevant and that there was not a reproduction of
a substantial part; the Full Court considered that
this skill and labour was
relevant and that there was a reproduction of a substantial part.
- There
was a change in direction on the second day of hearing in this Court. Nine
sought to recharacterise the relevant original
literary works as the "Nine
Database", a matter explained by Gummow, Hayne and Heydon
JJ[4]. IceTV and
IceTV Holdings contested that recharacterisation.
- We
agree with Gummow, Hayne and Heydon JJ that the appeal should be allowed. In
the light of the reasons which follow, it is unnecessary
for us to consider the
"indirect reproduction" issue. The facts and the relevant legislation have all
been set out in the reasons
of Gummow, Hayne and Heydon JJ. They do not need to
be repeated here except as necessary to explain our reasons.
Question
- The
principal question raised by this appeal is whether Nine can obtain relief for
copyright infringement arising from the reproduction
of individual items of
information, part of the time and title information, in respect of various
programmes contained in the Weekly
Schedules. If this question is answered
affirmatively, this would effectively restrain IceTV from selling its products
in the derivative
or secondary market of weekly television guides without a
licence or authorisation from Nine.
The works in suit
- The
Weekly Schedules. As noted above, the works in suit were identified, at
first, as each of the Weekly Schedules over the relevant period in which
it was
said that copyright infringement occurred. There were two formats of the Weekly
Schedule in evidence. The primary judge
described the Weekly Schedule, in
either format, as
follows[5]:
"The weekly schedule contains the time and title information for a 7-day
broadcast week. It gives program starting times, program
titles and, where
relevant, episode titles for each day. The weekly schedule also contains
additional program information, including
whether the program or episode is a
repeat or live, format information (for example, 'WS' for widescreen and 'HD'
for high definition),
the classification (for example, 'PG' for parental
guidance, 'M' for mature), consumer advice information (for example, 'Frequent
Co[a]rse Language [L]') and program or episode synopses. The synopses have a
literary element.
The information included in the weekly schedule is set out in columns for each
day ... The first two columns comprise program time
and title information. The
third and fourth columns comprise additional program information. The fifth and
final column contains
the synopses. The arrangement of the weekly schedule is
in a particular way:
. as a broadcast week from Sunday to Saturday under each 'day';
. as a day, from 6 am to 5.59 am the next day;
. in tabular form; and
. in columns, with each column containing certain information as
described above."
- The
Nine Database. As detailed in the reasons of Gummow, Hayne and Heydon
JJ[6], on the
second day of hearing in this Court, Nine submitted, for the first time, that
the work in suit was the Nine Database (presumably
from week to week) and that
each Weekly Schedule was but a form of that work.
- It
is difficult to accept this contention. As explained in the reasons of Gummow,
Hayne and Heydon
JJ[7], associated
with each timeslot in the Nine Database were pieces of information not
associated with that timeslot in the Weekly Schedule,
such as a catalogue code.
Further, as explained by the primary
judge[8], other
documents which differ substantially from the Weekly Schedule were also produced
from the Nine Database. Assuming the Nine
Database is a compilation, it
therefore appears to be a different compilation from the Weekly Schedule. No
real argument was addressed
on this point by counsel for Nine.
- It
needs to be observed that in copyright cases, it is essential that the plaintiff
identify precisely the work or works in which
copyright is said to subsist and
to have been
infringed[9].
- However,
it is not necessary to resolve this issue, as in our view nothing turns in this
appeal on the correctness of Nine's contention.
It may be assumed that
copyright subsisted in the Nine Database from week to week as an original
literary work, it being a compilation.
As it has been conceded by IceTV and
IceTV Holdings that copyright subsisted in each Weekly Schedule, it is therefore
not necessary,
in this appeal, to consider the question of the subsistence of
copyright in those
compilations[10].
The allegedly infringing conduct
- The
conduct alleged to infringe copyright arises in the following way.
- As
noted above, subscribers to IceTV's services could program compatible devices to
connect over the Internet to a database maintained
by IceTV and download the
latest version of the IceGuide for an upcoming six to eight-day period. The
precise visual appearance
of the IceGuide varied between devices and was not
determined or influenced by IceTV or IceTV Holdings. Indeed, at the user's
choice,
the IceGuide could be displayed on a device in different visual formats
containing different information.
- The
initial information to be included in the IceGuide was generated by an employee
of IceTV watching television over a period of
time, obtaining information about
programmes from the Internet and reviewing published Aggregated Guides. In this
appeal, no complaint
is made by Nine about this process.
- Nine's
complaint concerns the process by which each day's IceGuide schedule had been
created since April 2005. In essence, an employee
of IceTV would use an
IceGuide schedule from a previous day, compare it to a number of Aggregated
Guides and, in almost all cases
where there was a difference as to the time and
title information, amend the IceGuide schedule accordingly. It is alleged that
this
reproduction of time and title information, to be included in the IceGuide,
constituted a reproduction of a substantial part of the
Weekly Schedule (or the
Nine Database) which was the source of the information. The alleged
reproduction involved the use of the
words, figures and symbols, and the
chronological arrangement, in which the time and title information was
expressed.
- Assuming
copyright subsists in the Weekly Schedule (as admitted by IceTV and IceTV
Holdings) and in the Nine Database, each Weekly
Schedule (and each week's
version of the Nine Database) is accepted by Nine in this Court to be a separate
copyright work. If there
were no reproduction of a substantial part from any of
the individual works, the conclusion must be that there was no infringement
of
copyright in any of the works. The fact that there was "systematic copying" of
time and title information over a period of time,
from many of the individual
works, does not alter that
conclusion[11].
To the extent that there are nineteenth century cases to the
contrary[12],
they should not be followed. It is sufficient for the purposes of discussing
infringement in this appeal to focus on a single Weekly
Schedule (or a single
week's version of the Nine Database), as what is said will apply to all of them.
"Author" and "authorship" and the information/expression
dichotomy
- The
"author" of a literary work and the concept of "authorship" are central to the
statutory protection given by copyright legislation,
including the Act.
- Undoubtedly,
the classical notion of an individual author was linked to the invention of
printing and the technical possibilities
thereafter for the production of texts
otherwise than by collective efforts, such as those made in mediaeval
monasteries. The technological
developments of today throw up new challenges in
relation to the paradigm of an individual author. A "work of joint authorship",
as recognised under the Act, requires that the literary work in question "has
been produced by the collaboration of two or more authors and in which the
contribution
of each author is not separate from the contribution of the other
author or the contributions of the other
authors"[13].
As in other cases where the facts resemble those under consideration
here[14], the
Weekly Schedules (and the Nine Database) were the result of both a collaborative
effort and an evolutionary process of development,
involving in this instance
both manpower and the use of computers. However, nothing in these reasons turns
on any conclusion as
to the precise identity of the author or authors of those
works.
- In
assessing the centrality of an author and authorship to the overall scheme of
the Act, it is worth recollecting the longstanding theoretical underpinnings of
copyright legislation. Copyright legislation strikes a balance
of competing
interests and competing policy
considerations[15].
Relevantly, it is concerned with rewarding authors of original literary works
with commercial benefits having regard to the fact
that literary works in turn
benefit the reading public.
- In
both its
title[16] and
opening
recitals[17],
the Statute of Anne of
1709[18] echoed
explicitly the emphasis on the practical or utilitarian importance that certain
seventeenth century philosophers attached
to knowledge and its encouragement in
the scheme of human
progress[19].
The "social contract" envisaged by the Statute of Anne, and still underlying the
present Act, was that an author could obtain a monopoly, limited in time, in
return for making a work available to the reading public.
- Whilst
judicial[20]
and
academic[21]
writers may differ on the precise nature of the balance struck in copyright
legislation in different places, there can be no doubt
that copyright is given
in respect of "the particular form of expression in which an author convey[s]
ideas or information to the
world"[22].
- The
particular form of expression here was the Weekly Schedule (or the Nine
Database). The balance spoken of above is important
in the present context
because, generally speaking, no copyright could be claimed in a programme title
alone[23] and
the time at which a programme will be broadcast is a single item of quotidian
information.
- Copyright
does not protect facts or
information[24].
Copyright protects the particular form of expression of the information, namely
the words, figures and symbols in which the pieces
of information are
expressed[25],
and the selection and arrangement of that
information[26].
That facts are not protected is a crucial part of the balancing of competing
policy considerations in copyright legislation. The
information/expression
dichotomy, in copyright law, is rooted in considerations of social utility.
Copyright, being an exception
to the law's general abhorrence of
monopolies[27],
does not confer a monopoly on facts or information because to do so would impede
the reading public's access to and use of facts
and information. Copyright is
not given to reward work distinct from the production of a particular form of
expression[28].
- These
concepts are relevant to the determination, called for by the Act, of whether a
part reproduced is a "substantial part" of a work in which copyright
subsists.
Substantial part
- So
as to indicate that the time and title information alleged to have been
reproduced did not form a large part of a Weekly Schedule,
the primary judge
referred to the copying of "slivers of
information"[29].
However, in order to assess whether material copied is a substantial part of an
original literary work, it is necessary to consider
not only the extent of what
is copied: the quality of what is copied is
critical[30].
- This
principle has a long
provenance[31]
and it is particularly apposite when considering a compilation. Some
compilations are no more than a selection or arrangement of
facts or information
already in the public domain. When the particular form of expression contains
facts and information, it is
not helpful to refer to "the rough practical test
that what is worth copying is prima facie worth
protecting"[32].
To take an example, facts are obviously worth copying for purposes such as a
narrative work of history which depends on secondary
sources[33].
It is equally unhelpful to refer to the "commercial value" of the information,
because that directs attention to the information
itself rather than to the
particular form of expression.
- It
is often said that questions of whether a substantial part has been copied are
questions of fact and
degree[34].
However, a factor critical to the assessment of the quality of what is copied is
the "originality" of the part which is
copied[35].
Originality in the context of subsistence of copyright
- The
requirement for copyright subsistence that a literary work be "original" was
first introduced into the Copyright Act 1911
(Imp)[36],
although it had already been recognised at common
law[37].
Originality for this purpose requires that the literary work in question
originated with the author and that it was not merely copied from another
work[38]. It
is the author or joint authors who bring into existence the work protected by
the Act. In that context, originality means that
the creation (ie the
production) of the work required some independent intellectual
effort[39], but
neither literary
merit[40] nor
novelty or inventiveness as required in patent
law[41].
- There
has been a long held assumption in copyright law that "authorship" and "original
work" are
correlatives[42];
the legislation does not impose double
conditions[43].
Originality in the context of infringement
- In
this appeal, the question of "originality" arises not in the context of
subsistence, but in the context of infringement, in particular
the determination
of the quality of the part of the Weekly Schedules (or the Nine Database)
alleged to have been reproduced.
- A
Weekly Schedule (and the Nine Database) contains both "information" and
"creative"
material[44].
The material may have been confidential before being provided to the Aggregators
or released to the public. For the purposes of
copyright law, that
confidentiality does not
matter[45]. In
terms of the distinction between information and creative material, the time and
title information is information about Nine's
intended future conduct. It is,
however, contained within a whole, a collocation (ie the Weekly Schedule or the
Nine Database),
which also contains creative material such as the synopses of
programmes to be broadcast.
- In
Ladbroke (Football) Ltd v William Hill (Football) Ltd
("Ladbroke")[46],
Lord Pearce spoke of the situation where reproduction of an unoriginal part of
an original whole will not be an infringement when
he said:
"The reproduction of a part which by itself has no originality will not
normally be a substantial part of the copyright and therefore
will not be
protected. For that which would not attract copyright except by reason of
its collocation will, when robbed of that collocation, not be a substantial
part
of the copyright and therefore the courts will not hold its reproduction to be
an infringement." (emphasis added)
This means that where the part reproduced did not originate with the author, so
that the author would not have copyright in the part
standing alone, the part
reproduced will not be a substantial
part[47].
Here, however, the predetermination of future broadcasts was done by employees
of Nine, at least some of whom may be the authors
of the works in suit. For
that reason, it cannot be said that the part reproduced did not originate with
the author or authors of
the works in suit.
- However,
the fact that a part reproduced originates from the author (as here) does not,
of itself, mean that it is necessarily a
substantial part of the whole
work[48].
Originality in the context of infringement has a broader aspect. The point was
pursued in Autodesk v Dyason [No 2]
("Autodesk [No
2]")[49]
and Data Access Corporation v Powerflex Services Pty Ltd ("Data
Access")[50].
In Autodesk [No 2], though the whole of a computer program originated
from the
author[51],
Mason CJ (in dissent) considered that reproducing part of the program containing
data may not be reproduction of a substantial part
because
it[52]:
"may conceivably be akin to the reproduction of the material simpliciter in a
table or compilation or the reproduction of something
that is itself largely
unoriginal" (footnote omitted).
- In
Data Access, Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ approved Mason CJ's
view and said that, in the case of a computer program, "the originality
of what
was allegedly taken from a computer program must be assessed with respect to the
originality with which it expresses [the]
algorithmic or logical relationship
[between the function desired to be performed by a device and the device] or
part
thereof"[53]
and its "inherent
originality"[54].
Their Honours concluded that the "Reserved Words" under consideration, which
were user inputs associated in the program with certain
functions, were not a
substantial part of the computer program. This was, first, because the Reserved
Words were "irrelevant to
the structure, choice of commands and combination and
sequencing of the commands in source
code"[55].
Secondly, since the Reserved Words consisted of ordinary English words
suggestive of their function or words common in other computer
languages (or
combinations thereof), "they d[id] not possess sufficient originality as data to
constitute a substantial part of the
computer
program"[56].
- These
cases direct attention to the degree of originality in the expression of
the part of the work reproduced. The same point is made in the current edition
of Copinger and Skone James on
Copyright[57]:
"[T]he more simple or lacking in substantial originality the copyright work, the
greater the degree of taking will be needed before
the substantial part test is
satisfied."
- The
Weekly Schedule (and the Nine Database) as a whole involves orderly arrangement
of its various elements and the evidence showed
choices were made about what
programmes were included or excluded. As a whole, it is an original (ie not
copied) collocation of
both information and creative material.
- However,
the expression of the time and title information, in respect of each programme,
is not a form of expression which requires
particular mental effort or exertion.
The way in which the information can be conveyed is very
limited[58].
Expressing a title of a programme to be broadcast merely requires knowledge of
the title, generally bestowed by the producer of
the programme rather than by a
broadcaster of it. Expressing the time at which a programme is broadcast, for
public consumption,
can only practically be done in words or figures relating to
a 12 or 24-hour time cycle for a day. The authors of the Weekly Schedule
(or
the Nine Database) had little, if any, choice in the particular form of
expression adopted, as that expression was essentially
dictated by the nature of
the information. That expression lacks the requisite originality (in the sense
explained) for the part
to constitute a substantial part.
- Counsel
for Nine sought to place importance upon the reproduction not only of time and
title information in respect of each programme,
but also of the chronological
arrangement of the time and title information for various programmes. Whether a
selection or arrangement
of elements constitutes a substantial part of a work
depends on the degree of originality of that selection or
arrangement[59].
In this case, a chronological arrangement of times at which programmes will be
broadcast is obvious and prosaic, and plainly lacks
the requisite
originality.
- These
considerations lead to the conclusion that the part of the Weekly Schedule (or
the Nine Database) alleged to have been reproduced
was not a substantial part.
Something must be said, then, of the relevance of "skill and labour" to this
question and how it may
lead to error.
Skill and labour in the context of subsistence
- Not
every piece of printing or writing which conveys information will be subject to
copyright. For a long time, and precisely because
compilations often contain
facts, it has been commonplace to enquire what skill and labour was required in
the preparation of a
compilation[60].
That question has arisen in the context of considering whether copyright
subsists at all in a compilation as well as being relevant
to a later inquiry as
to the "quality" of any material taken from a copyrighted work.
- In
Feist Publications Inc v Rural Telephone Service Co
Inc[61]
the Supreme Court of the United States considered the compatibility of two
propositions: first, that compilations of facts are generally
copyrightable,
and secondly, that facts were not copyrightable. This case involves the same
tension between those two propositions.
"Originality" was a constitutional
requirement that was the source of Congress's power to "secur[e] for limited
Times to Authors
... the exclusive Right to their respective
Writings"[62].
It was recognised, however, that copyright in a factual compilation is
necessarily
"thin"[63]
because the standard for originality should not be such that copyright owners
have a monopoly on facts or information. Ultimately
the decision turned in a
significant degree on the view that "[t]he primary objective of copyright is not
to reward the labor of
authors, but '[t]o promote the Progress of Science and
useful
Arts.'"[64]
The exclusion of ideas and information from copyright protection has been
codified in the United
States[65].
- Much
has been written about differing standards of originality in the context of the
degree or kind of "skill and labour" said to
be required before a work can be
considered an "original" work in which copyright will
subsist[66].
"Industrious collection" or "sweat of the brow", on the one hand, and
"creativity", on the other, have been treated as antinomies
in some sort of
mutually exclusive relationship in the mental processes of an author or joint
authors. They are, however, kindred
aspects of a mental process which produces
an object, a literary work, a particular form of expression which copyright
protects.
A complex compilation or a narrative history will almost certainly
require considerable skill and labour, which involve both "industrious
collection" and "creativity", in the sense of requiring original productive
thought to produce the expression, including selection
and arrangement, of the
material[67].
- It
may be that too much has been made, in the context of subsistence, of the kind
of skill and labour which must be expended by an
author for a work to be an
"original" work. The requirement of the Act is only that the work originates
with an author or joint
authors from some independent intellectual effort. Be
that as it may, as noted previously, since the subsistence of copyright need
not
be considered in this appeal, the relevance of skill and labour to that inquiry
need not be considered further.
Skill and labour in the context of infringement
- In
the context of infringement, in particular the determination of whether a part
reproduced is a "substantial part", a matter often
referred to is whether there
has been an "appropriation" of the author's skill and
labour[68]. As
already noted, both the primary judge and the Full Court adopted that approach
in this case. However, it is always necessary
to focus on the nature of the
skill and labour, and in particular to ask whether it is directed to the
originality of the particular
form of
expression[69].
- Nine
relied on British Broadcasting Co v Wireless League Gazette Publishing Co
("Wireless")[70],
Football League Ltd v Littlewoods Pools Ltd
("Littlewoods")[71],
Ladbroke[72]
and Independent Television Publications Ltd v Time Out Ltd ("Time
Out")[73]
for the proposition that it does not matter if the skill and labour is directed
to matters other than a particular form of expression
for the purposes of
assessing the substantiality of the part reproduced.
- However,
in Wireless, there was no real analysis of the question of infringement,
which appears to have been treated as bound up with a "fair dealing"
defence
abandoned by the
defendant[74].
In Littlewoods, importance was attached to the reproduction of not only
the information, but also its arrangement, and to the fact that essentially
the
whole of the work in suit had been
reproduced[75].
In Ladbroke, Lord Evershed expressly rested his decision as to
infringement upon the aspects of expression of the betting coupon in question,
not the skill and labour in deciding what bets to
offer[76]. The
other members of the House of Lords (except for Lord Devlin, who did not discuss
infringement) relied on the aphorism, referred
to above, that "what is worth
copying is prima facie worth
protecting"[77];
but it is significant that the reproduction was more extensive than in this case
and included reproduction of aspects of arrangement.
In Time Out,
appropriation of skill and labour was not mentioned in the context of
infringement. The focus was instead on the commercial value
of the information
alleged to have been reproduced from the broadcasting schedule in question, in
that it concerned peak viewing
times and omitted references to programmes which
would be known by viewers to be broadcast at fixed
times[78].
With respect, that focus was upon the information itself, rather than the
particular form in which it was expressed.
- Rewarding
skill and labour in respect of compilations without any real consideration of
the productive effort directed to coming
up with a particular form of expression
of information can lead to
error[79]. The
error is of a kind which might enable copyright law to be employed to achieve
anti-competitive behaviour of a sort not contemplated
by the balance struck in
the Act between the rights of authors and the entitlements of the reading
public[80].
The Act mandates an inquiry into the substantiality of the part of the work
which is reproduced. A critical question is the
degree of originality of
the particular form of expression of the part. Consideration of the skill and
labour expended by the author
of a work may assist in addressing that question:
that the creation of a work required skill and labour may indicate that the
particular
form of expression adopted was highly original. However, focussing
on the "appropriation" of the author's skill and labour must
not be allowed to
distract from the inquiry mandated by the Act. To put aside the particular form
of expression can cause difficulties,
as evidenced by Desktop Marketing
Systems Pty Ltd v Telstra Corporation
Ltd[81].
- It
is not seriously in dispute that skill and labour was expended on producing the
Weekly Schedules (and the Nine Database). The
evidence disclosed considerable
skill and labour involved in programming decisions. There was a contest about
whether it mattered
if some of the skill and labour expended was directed to
business
considerations[82].
Plainly, the skill and labour was highly relevant to matters such as advertising
revenue. It is not difficult to understand that
questions of the timing of
particular broadcasts are crucial for advertising revenues. The fact that
business considerations inform
the decision to adopt a particular form of
expression will not necessarily detract from the originality of that form of
expression.
- However,
the critical question is whether skill and labour was directed to the particular
form of expression of the time and title
information, including its
chronological arrangement. The skill and labour devoted by Nine's employees to
programming decisions
was not directed to the originality of the particular form
of expression of the time and title information. The level of skill and
labour
required to express the time and title information was
minimal[83].
That is not surprising, given that, as explained above, the particular form of
expression of the time and title information is
essentially dictated by the
nature of that information.
Animus furandi
- In
the light of these reasons, it is not necessary to consider the relevance of any
animus furandi on the part of IceTV or IceTV
Holdings[84].
Conclusion
- Any
reproduction of the time and title information in the IceGuide was not a
reproduction of a substantial part of any of the Weekly
Schedules (or the Nine
Database). We agree with the orders proposed by Gummow, Hayne and
Heydon JJ.
- GUMMOW,
HAYNE AND HEYDON JJ. These reasons in favour of allowing the appeal are
organised as follows:
Introduction [58]-[64]
The construction of Pt III of the Act [65]-[71]
Compilations and "substantial part" [72]-[76]
The Spicer Committee [77]-[78]
The transition to digital television [79]-[83]
The IceGuide [84]-[90]
The litigation [91]-[94]
Authorship and material form [95]-[106]
The pleadings and the evidence [107]-[121]
The holdings of the primary judge and the Full Court [122]-[129]
Misappropriation of skill and labour "of Nine" [130]-[134]
The EU Database Directive [135]-[139]
The submissions on "substantial part" [140]-[153]
Treatment of "substantial part" by the Full Court [154]-[171]
"Prediction" of time and title information [172]-[184]
Conclusions [185]-[188]
Orders [189]
Introduction
- The
commercial interest which has given rise to this appeal is the control sought by
the respondent ("Nine") over the use of the
programme schedules for television
transmissions by its network ("the Nine Network"). The appellants (together
"Ice") challenge
the decision on 8 May 2008 of the Full Court of the
Federal Court (Black CJ, Lindgren and
Sackville JJ)[85]
that there has been reproduction of a "substantial part" of original literary
works in which copyright subsisted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)
("the Act"). These works were compilations represented by the television
programme schedules for the Nine Network. The "substantial part"
was the
programme title, date and time of broadcast, including the episode title where
relevant ("time and title information").
- The
primary judge (Bennett J) dismissed the action brought by
Nine[86] and so
made no finding as to whether the second appellant ("Ice Holdings") was jointly
liable for any infringement by the first appellant
("IceTV"). In a
supplementary
judgment[87]
delivered on 20 August 2008 the Full Court indicated that among the issues
remitted to the primary judge was that of infringement
by Ice Holdings.
- This
Court granted leave to Telstra Corporation Limited and to Australian Digital
Alliance Limited ("the Digital Alliance") to appear
each as amicus curiae.
- Ice
seeks the reinstatement of its success at first instance in the Federal Court.
Bennett J held that there had been no reproduction
of a substantial part of
the compilations. For the reasons which follow, her Honour reached the correct
result and her decision
should not have been set aside in the Full Court.
- A
critical passage in the reasoning of the Full Court appears under the heading
"Principles"[88].
This includes two propositions as follows. The first is that "[t]he quality of
what is taken must be assessed by reference to the
interest protected by the
copyright". The second is that "[i]n the case of a literary work, including a
compilation, the quality
relevant for the purpose of substantiality is the
literary originality of what has been copied". Both propositions draw upon the
speech of Lord Hoffmann in a case decided under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988 (UK) ("the 1988 UK Act"), Newspaper Licensing Agency
Ltd v Marks & Spencer
plc[89],
although, with respect to the first proposition, Lord Hoffmann
relied[90] upon
what had been said by Sackville J in Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Copyright
Agency
Ltd[91].
- Ice
submits that, if an "interest analysis" be adopted, then the "interest"
protected by the copyright in the Nine programme schedules
lies in the
particular form of their final expression rather than, as the Full Court
indicated[92],
in large measure in antecedent or preparatory work to fix programming schedules.
Ice contends that the Full Court thus adopted an
inappropriate focus for
determination of the issue of reproduction of a "substantial part" of the
schedules.
- It
will be necessary to consider later in these reasons the correctness and utility
of the two propositions drawn from Newspaper Licensing. At this stage it
is sufficient to indicate that the criticism by Ice of the reasoning of the Full
Court is well based and to turn
to the relevant provisions of the Act.
The construction of Pt III of the Act
- Part III
(ss 31-83) of the Act provides for the subsistence of copyright in "works",
including "literary works", which
are "original". Copyright is "personal
property" (s 196(1)). Subject to the provisions of s 196, copyright
is transmissible
by assignment, by will and by devolution by operation of law.
Copyright in the case of a literary work includes the exclusive right
to
reproduce the work in a material form (s 31(1)(a)(i)). This is to be read
as including reproduction of "a substantial part
of the work" (s 14(1)(a)).
Copyright in a literary work is infringed by a person who, not being the owner
and not having the
licence of the owner, does in Australia, or authorises the
doing in Australia of, any act comprised in the copyright (s 36(1)).
- The
term "literary work" includes a "compilation, expressed in words, figures or
symbols" (s 10(1)). The statutory forerunner
of the definition in the Act
of "literary work" was found in s 35(1) of the Copyright
Act 1911 (Imp) ("the 1911 Act"). This also included "compilations",
but the 1911 Act descended no further into detail. On the
other hand, the
separate definition of "compilation" in §101 of the United States
Copyright Act
of 1976[93]
speaks of:
"a work formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of
data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in
such a way that the
resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of
authorship".
The Congress enacted that provision to make it plain that the requirement of
originality applies "with full force" to works "containing
preexisting
material"[94].
In Canada, a "compilation" is relevantly defined as "a work resulting from the
selection or arrangement of literary ... works or
of parts thereof" and as "a
work resulting from the selection or arrangement of
data"[95].
- The
development of the law in the United States was much influenced by the judgment
of Story J in Emerson v
Davies[96]
and reference was made to it by Isaacs J in Sands & McDougall Pty
Ltd v
Robinson[97].
Story J, perhaps oddly to the modern reader, drew from analogies in patent
law. He likened the inventor of a new combination
of old integers to the author
of a compilation drawn from existing works by the employment of research and
skill, and the copyright
infringer whose unauthorised taking was "substantial"
to the patent infringer who took by "subterfuge" what later would be called
the
"pith and marrow" of the
invention[98].
- The
present significance of Emerson lies not in an immediate analogy between
contemporary copyright and patent law. Rather, the detailed reasons given by
Story J
direct attention to the competing interests involved in the
conferral by intellectual property laws of rights of statutory monopoly,
and the
imprecision of criteria devised by legislatures to strike a balance between
those competing interests.
- That
imprecision is apparent not only in the terms "compilation" and "substantial
part", but extends to what have been seen in the
case law as the conceptual
underpinnings of the protection by the Act of original literary, dramatic,
musical and artistic works.
The importance attached in the nineteenth century
to the protection by injunction of legal rights, provided they were proprietary
in nature[99],
encouraged the treatment by the courts of copyright as the reward for productive
labour; hence the use in some of the cases of the
agricultural metaphor of
sowing and reaping. That metaphor also relieved the courts from the perceived
hazards involved in adjudicating
upon aesthetic qualities of literary and other
works. (But there remained the difficulties associated with the expression "a
work
of artistic
craftsmanship"[100].)
- The
agricultural metaphor is still encountered in the case law. For example, in
Designers Guild Ltd v Russell Williams (Textiles)
Ltd[101]
Lord Bingham of Cornhill said:
"The law of copyright rests on a very clear principle: that anyone who by his
or her own skill and labour creates an original work
of whatever character
shall, for a limited period, enjoy an exclusive right to copy that work. No one
else may for a season reap
what the copyright owner has
sown."
But, as Morritt LJ had emphasised when that litigation had been in the
English Court of
Appeal[102]:
"the object of the law of copyright is to protect the product of the skill and
labour of the maker not to confer on him a monopoly
in the idea it may
express".
Further, Morritt LJ stressed, and, with respect, properly so, that this
latter consideration is important when determining whether
a "substantial part"
of a work has been reproduced by a defendant. That consideration also is
important in resisting the deceptive
simplicity of the formula repeated by
Lord Reid in Ladbroke (Football) Ltd v William Hill (Football)
Ltd[103]
that "what is worth copying is prima facie worth
protecting"[104].
However, as will appear later in these reasons, the rhetoric of
"misappropriation" appears to have influenced the outcome in the
Full
Court[105].
- A
safer, if necessarily incomplete, guide when construing Pt III of the Act
is the proposition that the purpose of a copyright
law respecting original works
is to balance the public interest in promoting the encouragement of "literary",
"dramatic", "musical"
and "artistic works", as defined, by providing a just
reward for the creator, with the public interest in maintaining a robust public
domain in which further works are
produced[106].
Compilations and "substantial part"
- As
in Australia the statutory texts in the United Kingdom with respect to the
protection of a "compilation" are sparse. This led
Diplock LJ to
say[107]:
"The derivation of 'compile' is from the Latin 'compilatio' or plunder, and,
following the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, I should regard its natural
meaning as being to gather together material from various sources, and a
'compilation' as a product
of such an activity." (italics
added)
- The
1911 Act was preceded by the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and
Artistic Works of 1886 ("the Berne Convention").
One of the three "strong" and
"urgent" reasons advanced to the House of Commons by the President of the Board
of Trade[108]
for the adoption of the 1911 Act was the need to bring domestic law into harmony
with recent changes to the Berne
Convention[109].
Upon its revision in
1908[110] the
Berne Convention now spoke of affording protection to "collections of different
works" (Art 2(2)) and, following further
revision in
1948[111]:
"[c]ollections of literary or artistic works such as encyclopaedias and
anthologies which, by reason of the selection and arrangement
of their contents,
constitute intellectual creations".
The phrase "intellectual creations" may be compared with the distinction drawn
by Barton J in Robinson v Sands & McDougall Pty
Ltd[112]
between the "intellectual work" and the "manual work" involved in compiling the
map in dispute in that case. The emphasis in the
Berne Convention on "selection
and arrangement" is preserved in Art 10(2) of the 1994 Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights, which
provides:
"Compilations of data or other material, whether in machine readable or other
form, which by reason of the selection or arrangement
of their contents
constitute intellectual creations shall be protected as such. Such protection,
which shall not extend to the data
or material itself, shall be without
prejudice to any copyright subsisting in the data or material
itself."
- The
United Kingdom authorities concerning compilations which preceded the
1911 Act[113]
had followed upon the enactment of the Copyright Act 1842
(Imp)[114].
In Leslie v Young &
Sons[115],
the House of Lords accepted that information derived from timetables issued to
the public by railway companies, and selected, condensed,
and arranged "in a
compilation or abstract involving independent labour", could be entitled to
protection; a subsequent compiler
of objects of information had to set about
doing what the first compiler had done.
- The
notion of substantial appropriation as sufficient to constitute infringement is
found also in the pre-1911 case
law[116]. It
is illustrated by the statement of Lord Herschell LC in Leslie v
Young
& Sons[117]:
"The real truth is, that although it is not to be disputed that there may be
copyright in a compilation or abstract involving independent
labour, yet when
you come to such a subject-matter as that with which we are dealing, it ought to
be clearly established that, looking
at these tables as a whole, there has been
a substantial appropriation by the one party of the independent labour of the
other, before
any proceeding on the ground of copyright can be
justified."
- The
use by the Lord Chancellor of the phrases "such a subject-matter as that with
which we are dealing", "clearly established", and
"can be justified", set the
stage for various submissions respecting the term "compilation" which were
presented by Ice on this appeal
and are considered later in these reasons.
However, one further point concerning the provenance of the Act should be made
immediately.
The Spicer Committee
- The
Act was introduced following the presentation of a report by a Committee ("the
Spicer Committee") appointed by the Attorney-General
of the
Commonwealth[118].
With respect to the term "compilation" the Spicer Committee did not accept a
submission that copyright should exist in the lists
prepared by football bodies
and showing the names of players and their identification numbers. In
pars 483 and 484 of
the Report, the Spicer Committee
wrote[119]:
"It is said that the sale of football publications is the means of adding to the
revenue of football clubs and the prior publication
of such lists by, for
example, newspapers would deprive them of the major part of such revenue. We
are unable to see how copyright
can be conferred merely in respect of the name
of a player associated with his football number. It has been held that
copyright
may exist in various compilations such as an alphabetical list of
railway stations, a list of fox-hounds and hunting dogs and lists
of stock
exchange prices and football fixtures. In all these cases the question whether
copyright exists depends to a large extent
on the amount of labour, capital or
skill expended in making the compilation. We think that the law in this regard
should not be
changed.
It seems that the football clubs may have copyright in the lists they prepare
as published in the various football
publications[120].
Such copyright, however, does not prevent a person making his own list by
attending a match. In the field of copyright there is
not, in our view, any way
to legislate against this. Indeed, no proposal on how this could be achieved
was submitted to us. We,
therefore, reject the submissions in this
regard."
- This
litigation is placed in a different commercial setting, where recent
developments in technology are of considerable importance.
But much of the area
of legal debate is laid out in the above remarks by the Spicer Committee nearly
50 years ago.
The transition to digital television
- The
dispute between Nine and Ice arose against the background of change in the
analogue television broadcasting system introduced
in 1956. This change was
given legislative force in amendments made to the Broadcasting Services
Act 1992 (Cth) ("the Broadcasting Act") in
1998[121] and
concerns the mandatory transition from analogue to digital television. In the
second reading speech on the Bill for the 1998 Amending
Act, the Minister
recorded what was said to be a commitment to ensuring that viewers be able to
enjoy the benefits of digital "free
to air" broadcasting. The Minister
explained[122]:
"The digital television era provides a quantum leap in television technology.
Viewers will have the option of viewing high definition
pictures of startling
clarity and with CD quality surround sound ... Digital transmissions will
enable a host of new information
services, including interactive services, to be
provided along with the main television programming.
...
Digital broadcasts will commence on 1 January 2001 in metropolitan areas
and from that date in regional areas such that all
areas have digital services
by 1 January 2004 ...
Broadcasters will be required to simulcast the same programs in both the new
digital channel and their current analog channel for
a period of at least eight
years from the commencement date."
- Members
of the Nine Network operate free to air television stations, including TCN-9
Sydney, GTV-9 Melbourne, and QTQ-9 Brisbane.
They hold commercial television
broadcasting licences issued under the Broadcasting Act. Stations within the
Nine Network are required to transmit their signal in analogue and digital
format throughout the transition
period. The transition continues to be subject
to legislative
refinement[123].
- The
advantages of digital television derive from the better quality of signal;
signals broadcast in digital format comprise a single,
high speed bit stream of
information expressed in binary code and this is both less vulnerable to
electrical interference, and more
efficient, than the analogue signal. Receipt
of the digital signal requires the fitting of analogue televisions with a signal
converter
(known as a "digital set top box") or use of a fully integrated
digital television or digital television compatible personal computer.
- One
significant advantage of the digital signal is that it facilitates better
quality recordings of television programmes. New technologies
such as "personal
video recorders" ("PVRs") permit the making and storing for later viewing of
near perfect reproductions of television
programmes broadcast in digital signal.
Recording and storage of programmes in digital format is also possible by use of
digital
television compatible personal computers, known as "Media Centres".
- Digital
recording technology was first made available to pay television subscribers in
Australia in February 2005 under the "Foxtel
IQ" brand PVR. However, the
application of the technology is not limited to pay television. Other brands of
PVRs and Media Centres
compatible with digital free to air television are
available for purchase from various retailers.
The IceGuide
- In
April 2005 the first appellant, IceTV, introduced an "electronic program guide"
("EPG") for use in conjunction with digital recording
devices and it was styled
"the IceGuide". Its basic features appear in the prospectus issued by the
second appellant, Ice Holdings,
on 29 March 2006. This states:
"IceGuide is [a] subscription based EPG available for the majority of the
population who watch digital [f]ree-to-air TV in Australia
...
IceGuide is typically used with compatible Media Centres or set-top-box based
[PVRs] ... IceGuide liberates consumers from the programming schedules
imposed on them by the [f]ree-to-air television networks.
The [IceGuide] is an independently compiled list of all shows on television
for the upcoming week, including episode descriptions and movie synopses.
IceTV editorial staff write the descriptions appearing in IceGuide for the major
stations. Descriptions for programming on ABC
and SBS are provided direct to
[IceTV].
With IceGuide, [s]ubscribers can schedule a week's viewing in advance, enabling
them to watch their favourite shows at a time that
most suits them.
This concept of 'time-shifting' (ie watching shows when it suits you) frees
consumers from network schedules. A 30 second skip facility
available on many
Media Centres and [PVRs] means that viewers can watch their chosen
programme avoiding other unwanted content.
Recording a programme with IceGuide is very easy with its 'point and click'
design. Viewers simply use their remote control to
move an on-screen cursor to
their chosen programme and press 'record' ... The programme will then be
recorded to an internal hard
drive, making tapes and complicated timer settings
a thing of the past. A library of recorded programmes is created, which allows
viewing at a later date." (emphasis added)
- The
majority of the revenue of the Nine Network is currently derived from
advertisements broadcast during television programmes.
The commercial interest
of Nine in the litigation was said by counsel to be directly related to the loss
of revenue that might be
occasioned by the "skipping" of advertisements.
Reference also was made in submissions to the possibility of unauthorised
distribution
of recorded programmes on the internet. There is no allegation in
the litigation that, by facilitation of the recording of television
broadcasts
and the skipping of advertisements, IceTV has contravened any provision of the
Broadcasting Act or otherwise engaged in unlawful conduct. Nor is there any
allegation that IceTV has infringed the copyright subsisting in any television
broadcast (Pt IV of the Act) or television programme (Pt III of the
Act)[124].
- Rather,
the dispute between Nine and Ice relates to that part of the prospectus which
describes the IceGuide as an "independently
compiled list of all shows on
television for the upcoming week". Upon payment of a subscription
fee[125], a
subscriber's PVR or Media Centre can be programmed regularly to connect to the
internet and download the IceGuide. Once uploaded
onto the subscriber's device,
the IceGuide displays on the television or computer screen information regarding
the television programmes
proposed to be broadcast by free to air television
stations, including stations within the Nine Network, for the coming six, seven
or eight days. The IceGuide display format varies depending on the brand of
device used, but may be illustrated sufficiently for
present purposes by
reference to the display appearing with use of a "Topfield" brand PVR in "single
channel" format. This appears
as follows:

Bennett J
explained[126]
that the display includes:
". Channel number (9) and channel name (NINE DIGITAL).
. Current time, date and day of the week (10:06, 28/09/2006 (Thu)).
. The current program title (The Footy Show (AFL)) together with
start and end times (23:30–02:00) and the date and day (28/09 (Thu)).
. Start and end times for the 5 programs scheduled to be broadcast directly
after the program currently screening.
. A television inset ('picture-in-picture', or 'PIP') moving image of the
program currently screening on the
channel."
Her Honour
continued[127]:
"Using the Topfield PVR's remote control, the user can scroll down the boxes
containing the program titles or times. As the user
continues to scroll,
additional boxes, containing the program title and time of successive programs
proposed to be broadcast, will
appear.
Underneath the 'PIP' inset is a separate blue text box containing the name of
the program, sometimes an episode name (for example,
Grand Final Show)
and the synopses ... The full synopsis can be viewed by selecting the program."
- Programmes
may be selected for recording onto a hard drive within the PVR device by
highlighting a particular programme on-screen
and pressing a button on the
remote control. Viewers are able to view a list of recorded programmes and
retrieve those programmes
for viewing by further use of the remote control.
- IceTV
obtains the dates, times and titles of programmes proposed to be broadcast by
the ABC and SBS from those stations for inclusion
in the IceGuide. However, the
approaches of IceTV towards other free to air networks for licences to obtain
like information failed.
In the result, for these stations, including the Nine
Network, IceTV developed "templates" and software to facilitate what it calls
"prediction" of the date, time and title of programmes proposed to be broadcast.
- The
process of "prediction" will be further discussed later in these
reasons[128].
It is founded on the proposition that the daily content of commercial
broadcasters for a particular day in any given week is likely
to be
substantially replicated on the same day of the following week. However, IceTV
checks its "predictions" against publicly available
television programme guides.
These have been identified as the "Aggregated Guides". They include the
magazine TV Week and online services such as the website YourTV
Guide ("the YourTV Guide"), and are prepared with the cooperation of Nine.
Where a discrepancy appears in the time and title information
as "predicted",
the IceGuide generally is amended to reflect the Aggregated Guides. It is these
acts, in particular, of "check and
change" of time and title information that
Nine seeks to prevent by reliance upon its rights under the copyright law.
- The
Full Court held that Ice had used the time and title information of Nine,
reproduced in the Aggregated Guides, as "an important
resource" in producing the
IceGuide and had thus reproduced a substantial part of Nine's copyright
work[129].
The litigation
- Nine
alleged infringement by IceTV of copyright subsisting in television programme
schedules produced by Nine for each day and week
since the commencement of its
operations in 1956. Five acts of infringement by IceTV were propounded at the
trial. Ice Holdings
was said to be jointly liable for each act of infringement.
The first act of infringement was identified in the reproduction by IceTV
of a
"substantial part" of Nine's programme schedules in the course of making and
updating each IceGuide. The litigation was conducted
on the footing that unless
this allegation be made out, the application should be dismissed.
- The
works in suit were identified in the amended statement of claim as "the Nine
Program Schedules" and pleaded as original literary
works in which copyright
subsisted and was owned by Nine. By its amended defence, Ice denied
infringement. However, Ice admitted
Nine had prepared and distributed a "weekly
television program guide" since 2001 and that each such guide was an original
literary
work by way of "compilation" within the meaning of the Act. This
document was referred to in the reasons of the primary judge and
the Full Court
as "the Weekly Schedule" and was produced by Nine in "Excel" and "text" format.
- At
trial and in the Full Court, it was accepted by Ice that copyright subsisted in
each Weekly Schedule and was owned by Nine. However,
there was debate in this
Court as to the scope of that concession and, in particular, whether it extended
to matters related to the
nature of the copyright subsisting in the Weekly
Schedule[130].
- It
is a matter of regret that the legal issues between Nine and Ice were
crystallised only in the course of oral submissions in this
Court. That makes
it necessary to consider the pleadings, the evidence, the findings and the
general conduct of the litigation at
trial, and on the intermediate appeal, more
closely than is usual in a final court of appeal.
Authorship and material form
- Something
should be said respecting two fundamental principles of copyright law and their
treatment in the course of the litigation.
The concession by Ice of the
subsistence of copyright in the Weekly Schedule appears to have distracted
attention from the necessary
part these principles must play in any resolution
of the dispute between the parties.
- The
first principle concerns the significance of "authorship". The subject matter
of the Act now extends well beyond the traditional
categories of original works
of
authorship[131],
but the essential source of original works remains the activities of authors.
While, by assignment or by other operation of law,
a party other than the author
may be owner of the copyright from time to time, original works emanate from
authors[132].
So it was that in Victoria Park Racing and Recreation Grounds Co Ltd v
Taylor[133],
Dixon J observed:
"Perhaps from the facts a presumption arises that the plaintiff company is the
owner of the copyright but, as corporations must enlist
human agencies to
compose literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works, it cannot found its
title on authorship. No proof was
offered that the author or authors was or
were in the employment of the company under a contract of service and that the
book was
compiled or written in the course of such
employment."
- Key
provisions of Pt III of the Act fix on "the author". Examples include the
requirement for the author of unpublished works
to be a "qualified
person"[134]
for copyright to subsist (s 32(1)), the fixing of copyright duration by
reference to the death of the author (s 33), and
the conferral of copyright
upon the author subject to the terms of employment or contractual arrangements
under which the author
labours (s 35). In the latter respect, s 35(6)
relevantly provides:
"Where a literary ... work ... is made by the author in pursuance of the terms
of his or her employment by another person under a
contract of service or
apprenticeship, that other person is the owner of any copyright subsisting in
the work by virtue of this Part."
- Like
the Copyright Act 1956 (UK) ("the 1956 Act") in its original form,
the Act does not define the term "author" beyond the statement that in relation
to a photograph it is the person who took that photograph. As a result of
changes made by the 1988 UK Act, in relation to a work
"author" means the person
"who creates it"; in the case of a "computer-generated" work this is taken to be
"the person by whom the
arrangements necessary for the creation of the work are
undertaken"[135].
No such provision is made in the Australian statute, but the notion of
"creation" conveys the earlier understanding of an "author"
as "the person who
brings the copyright work into existence in its material
form"[136].
- Where
a literary work is brought into such existence by the efforts of more than one
individual, it will be a question of fact and
degree which one or more of them
have expended sufficient effort of a literary nature to be considered an author
of that work within
the meaning of the Act. If the work be protected as a
"compilation", the author or authors will be those who gather or organise
the
collection of material and who select, order or arrange its fixation in material
form[137].
May there be joint authors of the one original work, rather than several authors
each of a distinct work?
- While
the Act speaks of "the author", the Act affords protection to works of joint
authorship by force of Div 9 of Pt III
(ss 78-83). The
expression "work of joint authorship" means (s 10(1)):
"a work that has been produced by the collaboration of two or more authors and
in which the contribution of each author is not separate
from the contribution
of the other author or the contributions of the other authors".
- In
the present case, the primary judge and the Full Court each recorded in their
reasons that there was no dispute that "the authors"
of the Weekly Schedule were
"qualified persons". However, neither at trial nor in the Full Court was there
any finding of the identity
of those persons or any finding that the Weekly
Schedule was a "work of joint authorship" within the meaning of the Act.
- The
second principle is related to the first and concerns the requirement for the
subsistence of copyright of "fixation" of the original
work in a material form.
It is well established that copyright does not subsist in a work unless and
until the work takes some material
form, so that
protection[138]:
"does not extend to the ideas or information contained in the work and a balance
is struck between the interests of authors and those
of society in free and open
communication[139]".
- Section 32
lays down the requirement for identifying the original work of the author. This
relevantly provides for copyright
to subsist in unpublished works where the
author was a qualified person "at the time when the work was made"
(s 32(1)(a)) and
for copyright to subsist in published works where the
"first publication" took place in Australia (s 32(2)(c)). In the case
of
the former, the time of making means the first reduction to "writing" or "some
other material form" (s 22(1)) while "publication"
occurs by supply of
reproductions of the work to the public (s 29(1)). Publication may be done
anonymously (s 34) and
special provision is made for the copyright duration
in respect of such works (s 34(1)). However, this has no application if
the identity of the author of the work is generally known or can be obtained by
reasonable inquiry (s 34(2)).
- The
definitions of "material form" and "writing" are (s 10(1)):
"material form, in relation to a work or an adaptation of a work,
includes any form (whether visible or not) of storage of the work or adaptation,
or a substantial part of the work or adaptation, (whether or not the work or
adaptation, or a substantial part of the work or adaptation,
can be
reproduced).
...
writing means a mode of representing or reproducing words,
figures or symbols in a visible form ..."
- A
generally expressed admission or concession by one party to an infringement
action of subsistence of and title to copyright may
not overcome the need for
attention to these requirements when dealing with the issues immediately in
dispute in that action. This
litigation provides an example. The exclusive
rights comprised in the copyright in an original work subsist by reason of the
relevant
fixation of the original work of the author in a material form. To
proceed without identifying the work in suit and without informing
the enquiry
by identifying the author and the relevant time of making or first publication,
may cause the formulation of the issues
presented to the court to go awry.
- It
may be noted that the presence or absence of evidence on these matters has been
held significant in several of the leading authorities
on compilations. These
include G A Cramp & Sons Ltd v Frank Smythson
Ltd[140],
where the original compiler of the 1933 diary was dead and there was a
consequent lacuna in the case of the unsuccessful plaintiff,
and Football
League Ltd v Littlewoods Pools
Ltd[141],
where evidence respecting the role of Mr Harold Sutcliffe in settling
the league fixtures was given great weight by Upjohn J.
In Robinson v
Sands & McDougall Pty
Ltd[142],
the primary judge (Barton J) said that the plaintiff and his witnesses had
described "the whole course of preparation" of his
map and gave details of that
evidence.
The pleadings and the evidence
- The
amended statement of claim pleaded "subsistence and ownership" by Nine of
copyright in three categories of "Nine Program Schedules".
Each of these was
said to be made, created and revised by unidentified qualified persons acting
under a contract of service with
Nine. "[O]ne or more" of the Nine Program
Schedules was also said to have been "first published [anonymously] in Australia
shortly
prior to the date on which the applicable schedule commenced".
- The
three categories of Nine Program Schedules were:
(1) Nine Program Schedules consisting only of details of the dates, titles, and
intended starting and finishing times for the transmission
of the television
programmes broadcast by TCN-9 Sydney and, for the most part, other stations in
the Nine Network for each day and
week (ie, the "time and title information",
save for episode titles);
(2) Nine Program Schedules consisting of time and title information, including
episode titles, together with "additional program
detail information" such as
episode numbers, currency information (eg, whether a programme is a "repeat"
("Rpt"), "live", a "series
return", or "all new"), programme format (eg,
"Widescreen (WS)" or "High Definition (HD)"), closed captioning for the hearing
impaired
("S"), classification information (eg, "C", "G", "PG", "M", "MA", "AV")
and consumer advice (eg, "Some Violence [V]", "Sexual References
[S]", "Adult
Themes [A]", "Coarse Language [L]"); and
(3) Nine Program Schedules consisting of the information in
(1) and (2) together with short descriptive information about
individual television programmes, or "synopses".
- While
the pleading did not distinguish the categories of Nine Program Schedules by
identification of the relevant time of first making
or first publication, the
evidence showed a sequence of seven steps whereby information of the kind just
described was progressively
reduced into a variety of material forms in the
period before each "broadcast week". A "broadcast week" commenced on a Sunday
and
ended on the following Saturday.
- The
evidence established that Nine's Director of Programming,
Mr Michael Healy, commenced the sequence and first wrote
by hand the
programme name (or an abbreviation) for programmes proposed to be broadcast
during "prime time" (6:00 pm to 10:30 pm)
into a notebook called the "Paper
Programming Grid". Each page of the notebook represented a separate week of the
year, divided
into the seven days and half hour timeslots, and was populated by
Mr Healy with programme and sometimes episode titles up to six
to nine months in
advance of broadcast. A pencil was used for this task, so that the time and
title information so recorded could
readily be revised as changes were made to
the programme line-up for commercial reasons.
- Step
two appeared from the evidence of Program Executive Ms Penny Wieland.
This involved her recording time and title
information for programmes proposed
to be broadcast in the daytime (6:00 am to 6:00 pm) and off-peak
(10:30 pm
to 6:00 am) timeslots. Programme and sometimes episode
titles and numbers were inserted by her into an Excel "spreadsheet"
she
maintained on her computer, again divided into weeks, days and timeslots and
populated well in advance of broadcast. Ms Wieland
also populated her
spreadsheet with time and title information for prime time programmes, which she
derived from discussions with
Mr Healy or her own knowledge of Nine's
programming.
- Step
three occurred three to four weeks prior to each broadcast week and involved
another Nine employee, Mr Heath Forrest.
He transposed by hand the
time and title information for that week from Mr Healy's grid and
Ms Wieland's spreadsheet into
a further paper document called "the Master
Paper Grid". A separate Master Paper Grid was prepared by Mr Forrest for
each broadcast
week. He completed the grid by adding further episode titles and
certain other "additional program detail information" such as currency
information. However, other "additional program detail information", such as
classification and consumer advice, does not appear
to have been included in
Mr Forrest's Master Paper Grid.
- Step
four commenced once Mr Forrest had completed transposition of the
information from the grid and the spreadsheet into the
Master Paper Grid. This
involved the commencement of manual entry by Mr Forrest of that information
into a customised programme
database located on Nine's computer network ("the
Nine Database"). The evidence was largely silent as to the structure of the
Nine
Database or the manner of its operation.
- The
evidence showed that, while these steps were taking place, other staff at Nine
were responsible for collating other of the "additional
program detail
information" and the synopses. Mr Brian Feeney and
Mr Richard Lyle of the Programming Department
prepared classification
information for programmes proposed to be broadcast in accordance with the
Commercial Television Industry
Code of Practice. Synopses were also drafted by
Mr Justin Holman, Mr Forrest and occasionally Mr Healy, or
obtained
from Nine staff known as the "Genre Heads" and "Production Officers",
or outside producers or distributors. The evidence did not
reveal who was
responsible for entering the classification and consumer information into the
Nine Database, but did explain the entry
by Mr Holman of the synopses.
- Steps
five and six assumed particular importance in the development of Nine's argument
in oral submissions in this
Court[143].
- The
key actor in step five again was Mr Forrest. Upon completion of entry of
all available information for the relevant broadcast
week into the Nine Program
Schedule, the evidence was that he "dumped" that information into the Nine
Database thereby granting access
to persons who worked outside the Programming
Department but within, or in affiliation with, Nine. Those within Nine who were
given
this access could then view the proposed programme schedule on the
internal computer network at Nine. Access allowed Nine's marketing,
publicity
and sales departments to plan their sales and marketing strategies. It also
permitted stations other than TCN-9 Sydney,
GTV-9 Melbourne and QTQ-9 Brisbane
to access and amend the Nine Database to include local material or make changes
for their individual
stations.
- Step
six, the penultimate step, occurred 17 to 14 days ahead of each
broadcast week. It comprised the production of the
document referred to by the
primary judge and the Full Court in their reasons as the "Weekly Schedule".
This was done by Mr Holman.
He generated the Weekly Schedule from the Nine
Database in both the "Excel" and "text" format and emailed that document to
three
third parties, identified as "the Aggregators".
- The
information recorded in a material form in the Weekly Schedule appears from the
first page of the "Excel" format disseminated
to the publishers of the
Aggregated Guides ("the Aggregators") for the broadcast week commencing Sunday,
11 June
2006[144].
This read:

- As
can be seen, the five columns of the Weekly Schedule included time and title
information (columns 1 and 2), additional
programme information
(columns 3 and 4), and the synopses (column 5). It is not
readily apparent that any one or
more of the items treated above as "title
information" (column 2) would qualify as an original literary work by
itself. The
same must be so of the time information of column 1. The
synopses in column 5 may have had that character, but they were
not
reproduced in the IceGuide.
- Before
turning to the seventh and final step, attention should be given to the role of
the Aggregators as recipients of the Weekly
Schedule. The primary judge found
that the purpose of the Weekly Schedule was to impart the totality of the
information therein
to the Aggregators. They were responsible for extracting
and publishing in the Aggregated Guides the totality of the information
in the
Weekly Schedule alongside like information provided by other free to air
television stations.
- The
final step in the relevant sequence of evidence involved the revision of the
time and title information after provision of the
Weekly Schedule to the
Aggregators. The evidence showed that the Weekly Schedule occasionally was
issued to the Aggregators with
timeslots marked "Details: TO BE ADVISED" and
late changes to programming made for competitive and other reasons.
Mr Healy
explained:
"I often deliberately keep certain program information back from inclusion in
the Nine Database until the print deadline for TV Week magazine, which is
ten days before the commencement of the particular week. I am likely to do this
where Nine has scheduled a special
event or the premiere of a new series or
movie that we do not want our competitors to have early knowledge about."
Responsibility for entering late changes in the Nine Database rested with
Mr Forrest, who also informed the Aggregators of such
late changes by the
provision to them of memoranda identified in the litigation as "Late Change
Notices".
The holdings of the primary judge and the Full Court
- Upon
the concession of Ice as to subsistence of copyright in the Weekly Schedule, the
primary judge held that the relevant work in
suit was each Weekly Schedule
published by Nine since IceTV commenced its activities in 2004. Her Honour held
that the Weekly Schedule
was a "compilation" literary work which expressed the
time and title information, the additional programme information and the
synopses
for each day of the relevant broadcast week. Each of the categories of
information included in the Weekly Schedule was there for
good commercial
reason. Bennett J rejected the submission of Nine that distinct copyrights
subsisted in mere components of
the Weekly Schedule, such as the time and title
information of the first two columns.
- As
to infringement, the primary judge found that (i) IceTV never took the
synopses and did not take the whole of the time
and title information from the
Aggregated Guides; (ii) IceTV had copied no more than "slivers" of time and
title information
from the Aggregated Guides in order to maintain and update the
IceGuide; and (iii) the slivers in question did not bear substantial
importance in relation to the originality of the Weekly Schedule as a whole.
This led the primary judge to the conclusion that IceTV
had not reproduced a
substantial part of the Weekly Schedule, with the consequence that the alleged
infringement was not established
and the application was dismissed.
- It
should be noted that the primary judge recorded that the case on infringement
was founded on the assertion that IceTV had appropriated
the "'skill and labour
of authorship' of Nine" (emphasis added). Her Honour's findings in this
respect were critical to the conclusion that there had been no reproduction of
a
"substantial part" of the Weekly Schedule.
- Bennett J
explained that the relevant "skill and labour" of Nine included both the skill
and labour of making decisions as to
the selection and arrangement of programmes
for broadcast in particular timeslots (referred to as the "preparatory" skill
and labour)
and the later "skill and labour" in drafting the synopses and
selecting and arranging the time and title information, the additional
programme
information and the synopses in the form of the Weekly Schedule once the
preparatory work was done.
- As
to the former, the primary judge found that the preparatory "skill and labour"
involved the consideration by Mr Healy and
Ms Wieland of many factors,
such as viewer preferences and trends, audience size and demographic appeal,
contractual and regulatory
obligations, competitor programming and ratings
information. However, she also found that the primary purpose here was not to
produce
a literary work, but rather, to produce a programme line-up that would
maximise viewers (and hence advertising revenue). The conclusion
followed that
the skill and labour in determining the programme line-up was not co-extensive
with the skill and labour in creating
the Weekly Schedule. IceTV was not a
broadcaster and there was accordingly no relevant "appropriation" by it of the
skill and labour
of placing programmes. IceTV adopted its own form of
presentation of the time and title information and drafted its own synopses
and
thus had not taken sufficient of "Nine's skill and labour" so as to have
infringed by copying "slivers" of time and title information.
- In
the Full Court, the findings by Bennett J as to the identity of the
relevant works in suit went unchallenged. The primary
issue was whether the
copying by Ice of time and title information from publicly available Aggregated
Guides constituted the reproduction
of a substantial part of the Weekly
Schedule. After setting out the "Principles" identified earlier in these
reasons, the Full Court
turned its attention to this issue under the heading
"Assessing the Primary Judge's Views on Ice's Appropriation of Nine's Skill
and
Labour"[145].
- It
was in the assessment of this topic that a critical difference of opinion
emerged in the reasoning of the Full Court. The Full
Court
explained[146]:
"Ice, to the extent it reproduced time and title information from the Weekly
Schedules, appropriated the skill and labour used by Nine to create the
Weekly Schedules. Contrary to her Honour's conclusion, the skill and labour in
selecting and arranging programming
should not be regarded as separate and
discrete from the extremely modest skill and labour involved in setting down on
paper the programs
already selected and presenting them in the form of the
Weekly Schedules. The skill and labour expended by Nine were part of a
single process leading to the creation of the copyright work as the written
record of Nine's programming decisions and the associated program information."
(emphasis added)
Upon this basis, that the skill and labour invested in the programming decisions
could not be separated from the skill and labour
of creating the copyright work,
the Full Court
continued[147]:
"Ice took, via the Aggregated Guides, precisely the pieces of information that
reflected the exercise of skill and labour by Nine in determining the
program for a particular day or other period ... Ice's use of material derived
from the time and title information
– we would not use the expression
'slivers of information' – appropriated the most creative elements
of the skill and labour utilised by Nine in creating the Weekly
Schedules." (emphasis added)
- The
Full Court concluded that the time and title information was the "centrepiece"
of the Weekly Schedule and that by taking it Ice
had reproduced a substantial
part of the relevant Weekly Schedules. Accordingly, the appeal was allowed and
the proceedings were
remitted to the primary judge for hearing and determination
consistently with the reasons of the Full Court.
Misappropriation of skill and labour "of Nine"
- Before
turning to the submissions presented in this Court, several points should
immediately be made concerning the focus by the
primary judge and the Full Court
upon the skill and labour "of Nine" in their treatment of infringement.
- The
first is to emphasise the dangers when applying the Act of adopting the rhetoric
of "appropriation" of "skill and
labour"[148].
A finding that one party has "appropriated" skill and labour, of itself, is not
determinative of the issue of infringement of a
copyright work. The Act does
not provide for any general doctrine of
"misappropriation"[149]
and does not afford protection to skill and labour alone.
- In
the present case, the alleged infringement was identified in the reproduction of
a substantial part of the relevant copyright
"work" (ss 36(1), 31(1)(a)).
To speak of the "appropriation" of "Nine's skill and labour", rather than
attending to the relevant "original" work of the author or authors, was to take
a fundamental departure
from the text and structure of the Act. In particular,
while s 35(6) might have produced the consequence that Nine was the
relevant copyright owner after identification of the relevant "author" or
"authors", notions of the "skill and labour" of Nine were
irrelevant to the
existence of its title to the copyright and to the assessment of "substantial
part".
- The
second point is that the conduct of the litigation in this manner reflected the
decision in Desktop Marketing Systems Pty Ltd v Telstra Corporation
Ltd[150].
That case decided that telephone directories were "original" works in which
copyright subsisted because "Telstra had undertaken substantial labour
and incurred substantial
expense"[151]
in compiling and presenting the details of telephone subscribers in a particular
region. Infringement was identified in the appropriation
of "the benefit of
Telstra's substantial labour and
expense"[152].
- However,
a reason to treat the decision in Desktop Marketing with particular care
appears from the reasons of the trial judge. Finkelstein J had
observed[153]:
"There are literally hundreds of appropriately trained or qualified employees
who make some contribution towards the production
of a telephone directory.
When the nature of the work they do is described, there arise three relevant
questions to the subsistence
of copyright: (a) Must a copyright work have
an author? (b) Does a telephone directory have an author? (c) Is
every
employee who contributes to the final product a joint author of the
directory? These are difficult questions for which there are
no ready
answers."
Finkelstein J went on to explain that the parties had sought to elucidate
none of those issues in the litigation, with the consequence
that, as here, the
relevant author or authors of the work in suit remained
unidentified.
The EU Database Directive
- In 1996
the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Legal
Protection of Databases ("the
Directive")[154]
was adopted by the European Union ("EU"). It is significant for the issues on
the present appeal that the Australian legislation
has no counterpart.
- Of
the genesis of the Directive, Professor Cornish has
written[155]:
"At once excited and alarmed by the capacity of digitization to store massive
files of information and of the internet to deliver
it in individually requested
packages, the publishing industry, and, by its side, music and films, secured a
Database Directive from
the EU".
Whilst "traditional copyright" respecting compilations was carefully confined
and fixed upon the effort that went into the selection
and arrangement in a
compilation, the new right was "accorded directly to the investor in a
database"[156].
- The
Directive defines "database" to mean "a collection of independent works, data or
other materials arranged in a systematic or
methodical way and individually
accessible by electronic or other
means"[157].
Chapter III of the Directive relevantly provides for the implementation of
a "sui generis" right for the "maker" of a database
who shows there has been a
"substantial investment" in either the obtaining, verification or presentation
of the contents of the
database and for that right to extend to prevention of
the extraction and/or re-utilisation of the whole or of a substantial part
of
the
database[158],
subject to certain
exceptions[159]
and lawful
uses[160].
- The
Directive also provides in Ch II for Member States to afford protection to
databases which, "by reason of the selection
or arrangement of their contents,
constitute the author's own intellectual
creation"[161]
(emphasis added). However, the position of "the author" in Ch II may be
contrasted with that of "the maker" in Ch III.
In explanation of the
latter, recital 39 states:
"Whereas, in addition to aiming to protect the copyright in the original
selection or arrangement of the contents of a database,
this Directive seeks to
safeguard the position of makers of databases against misappropriation of the
results of the financial and
professional investment made in obtaining and
collection [of] the contents by protecting the whole or substantial parts of a
database
against certain acts by a user or competitor".
- In
the absence of implementation of laws analogous to the kind described in the
Directive, the matters now in issue cannot be resolved
by concluding, as did the
Full
Court[162],
that Ice appropriated "the fruits of Nine's skill and labour".
The submissions on "substantial part"
- In
their submissions in this Court, each of Nine and Ice emphasised that the Court
should look to the "originality" of the work as
contributed by the author in
determining whether there had been any reproduction by IceTV of a "substantial
part". If that be done,
Ice submitted that the relevant originality would be
seen to lie not in the composition of the time and title information, but in
the
selection and arrangement of that information, the additional programme
information and the synopses into the "Excel" and "text"
format of the Weekly
Schedule.
- As
the course of oral argument progressed, there emerged between the parties
fundamental differences as to the nature of the relevant
"originality". The
extent of these differences crystallised on the second day of the hearing when,
apparently for the first time
in the litigation, Nine sought to identify the
work in suit as a single work "first made" upon the "dumping" of the Nine
Programme
Schedule into the Nine Database by Mr Forrest and "first
published" upon the emailing of the Weekly Schedule in "Excel" and
"text" format
to the Aggregators. These have been described earlier in these reasons as "step
five" and "step
six"[163].
- Counsel
for Nine explained that the work:
"was the work which was in material form made over a period of time but in final
material form on the [Nine] [D]atabase. The [Weekly
Schedule in 'Excel' and
'text' format] which were published [were] published by making it in another
material form which was a piece
of paper and sending it out. It did not become
a different work. It was just another form of the same
work."
The authors of the work so propounded were said by counsel to be Mr Healy
and
Ms Wieland[164]
and their "original" work was identified in the judgment and skill required to
create the sequence or relationship between the programme
title and time of
broadcast, as expressed in the time and title information. In putting the case
this way, Nine emphasised that
the synopsis and the additional programme
information followed "automatically" from the decision to broadcast a particular
programme
at a particular time; the "key element" of the work was the selection
of the programmes and their arrangement in particular time
sequences relative to
each other. This lay the ground for submissions that although IceTV had not
"appropriated" the synopses and
additional programme information, IceTV had
taken a "substantial part" of the Weekly Schedule.
- Nine
submitted that this analysis reflected the findings of the Full Court. But two
points should be made here.
- The
first point is that the proposition now advanced by Nine, that the work in suit
was a single work reflected in the Nine Database,
does not appear from the
elliptical references to "the Nine Program Schedules" in the pleadings. As a
consequence, issues of the
kind to be described below were not agitated at any
stage in the Federal Court.
- The
second point is to emphasise the difficulties of adapting the provisions of
Pt III of the Act to cases such as the present,
where multiple works and
authors might be identified and the requisite expression of "authorship" of each
may be dictated by a specific
commercial objective. The point is illustrated
sufficiently by contrasting the provisions of the Act and the evidence with the
proposition
that "the work" was a single work represented in the Nine Database
and "first published" upon dissemination to the Aggregators of
the Weekly
Schedule in "Excel" and "text" format.
- The
combined effect of s 32(1), s 22 and the definition of "material form"
is to provide for subsistence of copyright in
an unpublished literary work at
the time or period of first fixation in a material form by a qualified person,
whether then "visible
or not". Thus, copyright might subsist in the Nine
Database as a "compilation" upon the time of "dumping" by Mr Forrest,
notwithstanding
that the relevant expression of "words, figures or symbols"
might then have been invisible to the human eye (s 10(1)). Further,
the
Act provided for "first publication" (s 32(2)(c)) to occur upon supply of a
reproduction of "the work" to the public (s 29(1)),
as might be done by
dissemination to the Aggregators of the Weekly Schedule. However, the relevant
reproduction for the purposes
of first publication must be of the whole
(s 29(2)) rather than merely a substantial part (cf s 14(1)). A
work is
taken to be reproduced if converted into or from a digital or other
machine-readable form; any article embodying the work in such
a form is to be
taken to be a reproduction of the work (s 21(1A)).
- The
evidence showed that the words, figures or symbols which comprised the Nine
Database were not co-extensive with those which comprised
the Weekly Schedule.
For example, the evidence showed that each programme was allocated a short
"Catalog" code (eg, "NODD01") and
that Mr Forrest keyed these into the Nine
Database prior to generation of the "Excel" and "text" format of the Weekly
Schedule.
The catalogue codes permitted the cross-referencing by Nine of the
time and title information with its internal tape library in
a further schedule
called "the First and Final" schedule. This comprised a collocation of the
catalogue codes, the time and title
information and certain other information,
and was also generated from the Nine Database for this purpose prior to each
broadcast
week. However, the catalogue codes had no utility to the Aggregators
or the public and accordingly were omitted from the "Excel"
and "text" format of
the Weekly Schedule.
- The
requirement in s 29(2) of the Act for publication by reproduction of the
whole work is significant. The presence of catalogue
codes in the Nine
Database, but not the Weekly Schedule, points, when assessing infringement,
against the former being the same compilation
work as the latter. Further,
assuming the Nine Database and the Weekly Schedule to be distinct literary
works, questions inevitably
arise as to whether the author of the latter would
be identified with the author of the former and whether the requisite
"originality"
of each might differ in the assessment of infringement.
- In
this respect, the absence of evidence of the structure and manner of operation
of the Nine Database becomes significant. There
was evidence that
Mr Forrest and Mr Holman were each involved in transposing information
into the Nine Database. However,
the evidence did not indicate how the Nine
Database operated to select, arrange and present that information into the
"Excel" and
"text" format of the Weekly Schedule (step six), or who was
responsible for designing the Nine Database so as to achieve that function.
- Further,
while the evidence described the giving of access to information in the Nine
Database ("dumping") as enabling persons with
this access to view or in some
cases modify the proposed programme schedule (step five), there was no evidence
about how the information
in the Nine Database came to be assembled in the way
it was when those persons viewed it or sought to modify it. Nor was there
evidence
about who it was who decided that information should be assembled in
this way.
- The
relevant issues which this situation presents are elucidated by
Professor Davison in his work The Legal Protection of
Databases[165]
as follows:
"There is some argument that some databases do not have authors in the copyright
sense. This argument is based on the proposition
that electronic databases are
arranged automatically by the computer program ... The operator may simply key
in the data in an undiscriminating
manner or insert data that are already in
digital form, and the data may be organised by the computer program. There may
be no originality
associated with the selection of the data included in the
database, particularly if the selection consists of all the available material
relating to a particular topic. It could be further argued that, as the
arrangement has occurred automatically as a consequence
of the operation of the
computer program that manipulates the data, the supposed author of the database
has not in fact authored
it." (citation
omitted)
The author goes on to explain that there are a number of possible responses to
this problem, but that
these[166]:
"require some understanding of the process of creating and updating an
electronic database. First, the actual creation and updating of a database
is rarely as simple as indiscriminately keying new data into some form of
digital storage ... A decision has to be made about defining the records and
fields (or the rows and columns) that are to be contained within the
database ... Even though the final result is produced by the 'work' of a
computer in arranging the material in this way, human thought went into the
scheme of the database and the conception of how the material would look to the
external user ...
The second response ... is based on the proposition that the authors of
databases can claim authorship by virtue of having considered
the possible
outcomes of their input into the database. They have chosen the software
used in the database and therefore chosen the operations that it can carry out
on the data included." (emphasis
added)
In the absence of evidence as to matters of this kind and of any provision in
the Act akin to s 9 of the 1988 UK
Act[167], Ice
submitted in its oral submissions in reply that the relevant author of the
Weekly Schedule was unknown. We agree. It would
follow from this that no
finding could be made as to whether the Weekly Schedule was a work of joint
authorship within the meaning
of s 10(1) of the
Act[168].
- However,
the appeal to this Court may be resolved without resolving issues of this
nature. On the assumption favourable to Nine
that the Weekly Schedule was "the
same work" as the Nine Database, the Court should accept the submission by Ice
that the originality
of the compilation being the Weekly Schedule lay not in the
provision of time and title information, but in the selection and presentation
of that information together with additional programme information and synopses,
to produce a composite whole.
- The
reasons for accepting that submission appear from further consideration of the
reasons of the Full Court.
Treatment of "substantial part" by the Full Court
- The
effect of s 14(1)(a) of the Act is that an infringement by reproduction of
a work may result from the reproduction of "a
substantial part of the work".
The word "substantial" has been said to be "not only susceptible of ambiguity"
but to be "a word
calculated to conceal a lack of
precision"[169].
However that may be, which of the various possible shades of meaning the word
bears in a provision such as s 14 of the Act
will be determined by the
context[170].
With respect to s 14, that context includes the matters of development of
copyright law to which reference has been made earlier
in these
reasons[171].
- The
Full Court stated that a finding of substantiality depended much more on the
quality than the quantity of that which had been
copied. That starting point is
in accordance with
authority[172].
However, the "quality" relevant in the case of a literary work, including a
compilation, was said to be "the literary originality
of what has been
copied"[173].
That quality was to be assessed by reference to "the interest protected by the
copyright". The origin of these latter two propositions
in Newspaper
Licensing[174]
has been described earlier in these
reasons[175].
- Neither
proposition is satisfactory and each is apt to mislead.
- The
proposition that in a case such as the present one looks to the literary
originality of what IceTV copied, rather than to the
Weekly Schedule as a whole,
in answering the question whether IceTV reproduced a substantial part of the
Weekly Schedule, shifts
consideration to an extraneous issue. This is whether
what the primary judge called the "slivers" of information may themselves
be
classified as original literary works. The issue requiring the comparison
between what was taken and the whole of the work in
suit may be distorted by a
meditation, inspired by Desktop
Marketing[176],
upon the protection given by the Act against misappropriation of any investment
of skill and labour by the author. In the present
case, the temptation then is
to classify the slivers each as original literary works. An important
proposition may be overlooked.
This is that the statutory requirement that the
part of a work taken must be substantial assumes there may be some measure of
legitimate
appropriation of that investment.
- A
collateral matter should be put to one side. The case law does disclose that
special difficulty has been encountered in considering
the relationship between
the phrase "a substantial part" in s 14(1) of the Act and the definition in
s 10(1) of that species
of "literary work" which is a "computer program",
being:
"a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a
computer in order to bring about a certain result". (emphasis
added)
The phrase emphasised suggests the importance of function, although this is
usually encountered in patent and designs law, rather
than in the "traditional"
law of copyright respecting original literary works.
- It
was in this context, of the infringement of computer programs, that in Data
Access Corporation v Powerflex Services Pty
Ltd[177],
Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ disfavoured a "but for"
analysis which treated as essential for the purposes of
substantiality each of
the many necessary integers in a computer program, so that the presence of any
one of them indicated the taking
of a substantial part; such an analysis was
overly protective of the interests of the owners of the copyright in that
species of
literary work, and overlooked the need for some process of
qualitative abstraction of the material features of the computer program
in
question in order to determine any issue of substantiality under s 14(1) of
the Act. But the special considerations that
are present in cases such as
Data Access are not found here. Use of the term "functionality" in
compilation cases is unhelpful.
- The
proposition that the Court should look to "the interest" which the copyright
protects invites processes of reasoning to which
there applies the warning by
Judge Learned Hand in Nichols v Universal Pictures
Corporation[178].
This is to the effect that the more remote the level of abstraction of the
"interest", the greater the risk of protecting the "ideas"
of the author rather
than their fixed expression. That risk appears to have been realised in the
reasoning of the Full Court.
- The
Full Court approached the issue of substantiality at too high a level of
abstraction, and in doing so tipped the balance too
far against the interest of
viewers of digital free to air television in the dissemination by means of new
technology of programme
listings. The Full Court did so by treating the issue
of substantiality as dominated by an "interest" in the protection of Nine
against perceived competition by Ice.
- The
Full Court emphasised the apparent commercial value of the time and title
information in the conduct of the business of the Nine
Network. On the one
hand, the time and title information was a "central element of [Nine's] business
as a television broadcaster"
while the synopses and additional programme
information were of little or no value, whether commercially or as a repository
of programming
information[179].
Moreover, Nine and Ice were "competitors in the sense that each was seeking to
derive profit from the dissemination of the time
and title
information"[180].
- The
Act operates in the general legal milieu. Section 9(3) recognises this in
specifying that the statute does not affect the
operation of the law relating to
breaches of confidence. No litigation alleging breach of confidence could
successfully have protected
the time and title information at any rate after it
left the control of Nine and reached the Aggregators. None was attempted. To
the contrary, the Digital Alliance submitted that this litigation was an attempt
to use the copyright law to control the further
dissemination of information
after it had reached the public domain.
- The
Act also may have to be read with Pt IV of the Trade Practices Act
1974
(Cth)[181]
and with any conditions from time to time imposed upon licensees under the
Broadcasting Act.
- (It
may be noted that provision now is made, by amendments to the Broadcasting Act
in 2006[182],
for industry codes and industry standards respecting the provision of
information for the purpose of compiling electronic programme
guides[183].
Further, in the United Kingdom, s 176 of the Broadcasting Act 1990
(UK) imposes a duty to make available programme information to any publisher,
subject to the settlement of terms of payment
by the Copyright
Tribunal[184].)
- It
is unnecessary to pursue any of these considerations here, save to make several
points. First, evidence was not led to establish
any relevant "market" in which
Nine and Ice competed; nor did the evidence establish that the time and title
information was of greater
value (however assessed) in that market than the
synopses or additional programme information. Secondly, any consideration of
the
objectives of competition law may favour the interests of Ice rather than
Nine. The decision of the European Court of Justice in
Radio Telefis Eireann
and Independent Television Publications Ltd v Commission of the European
Communities[185]
was that reliance upon copyright law to found the refusal of the appellants to
provide programming schedules of Irish and British
television to the publisher
of a weekly television guide was an abuse of a dominant position within the
sense of Art 86 of the
Treaty of Rome. Thirdly, to speculate upon matters
of commercial competition as indicative of the "interest" protected by the Act
distracts attention from the closer consideration required to what is now the
case based upon the significance of step five and step
six in the processes
leading to the production of the Weekly Schedule.
- The
primary judge approached the issue of substantiality correctly when she stressed
that the detailed and lengthy preparatory work
involved in what are identified
in these reasons as steps one through to four was directed to the conduct of the
business of the
Nine Network in broadcasting programmes which would attract
viewers. Likewise the making of late programme changes, as Mr Healy
explained[186].
- There
remained what the Full Court accepted was "the extremely modest skill and
labour"[187]
in setting down the programmes already selected and in taking what may now be
identified as steps five and six.
- If
the Weekly Schedule be seen in that light, several propositions advanced by Ice
should be accepted. First, it ought, in a case
such as the present, and to
reprise the theme of Lord Herschell LC in Leslie v Young &
Sons[188],
to be clearly established by Nine that, looking at the Weekly Schedule as a
whole, there has been a substantial reproduction in
the particular use by IceTV
of the Aggregated Guides to access the time and title information.
- Secondly,
in assessing the quality of the time and title information, as components of the
Weekly Schedule, baldly stated matters
of fact or intention are inseparable from
and co-extensive with their expression. It is difficult to discern the
expression of thought
in statements of which programmes will be broadcast and
when this will occur. If the facts be divorced from the other elements
constituting
the compilation in suit, as is the case with the use by IceTV of
the time and title information, then it is difficult to treat the
IceGuide as
the reproduction of a substantial part of the Weekly Schedule in the qualitative
sense required by the case law.
- Thirdly,
it is important also to ask whether IceTV acted as it did in preparing the
IceGuide with animus furandi, to take from the Aggregated Guides the time
and title information to save itself from effort on its
part[189].
This invites further attention to the business plan and methods adopted by Ice
and to the matter of "predictions".
"Prediction" of time and title information
- Nine
relied upon the decision of Whitford J in Independent Television
Publications Ltd v Time Out
Ltd[190].
However, the publishers of Time Out had decided to "take a short
cut"[191] and
there had been wholesale copying of dates, titles and times from the
TV Times and the Radio Times published by the commercial and
public broadcasters
respectively[192].
- Bennett J
found that IceTV had proceeded in a very different manner. The objective of
IceTV had been to start with "a clean
sheet of paper" and develop an EPG without
infringing third party intellectual property rights. IceTV obtained legal
advice as to
how this might be done and began by creating templates of the daily
programming of the Sydney channels Nine, Ten and Seven ("the
Sydney templates").
The author of the Sydney templates was IceTV's Content Manager,
Mr Mitchell Rilett.
- The
Sydney templates included seven spreadsheets populated with time and title
information and additional programme information for
programmes broadcast by
TCN-9 on each day of the broadcast week. Nine alleged at trial that this
information had been copied from
the publicly available guides. However,
Bennett J found that Mr Rilett created the Sydney templates by
watching television
over a period of three weeks in August 2004 and recording
the time and title of the programmes then broadcast; his evidence of that
experience and description of it as "torture" were found by her Honour to be
compelling. The primary judge went on to find that
Mr Rilett compared his
templates with the publicly available guides in September 2004, noted a "slight
variation" in the time
and title information, and amended the Sydney templates
accordingly.
- In
this Court, the alleged copying of time and title information was identified not
in the creation or amendment of the Sydney templates,
but in the making and
updating of successive IceGuides built upon those templates. This commenced in
October 2004, when Mr Rilett
transposed the information in the Sydney
templates into a computer database maintained by IceTV ("the Ice Database") and
began using
IceTV's software to compile 24-hour guides for the commercial
networks for each day of the calendar week, six days ahead of when
the
programmes were scheduled for broadcast.
- The
findings of the primary judge and the evidence supported the identification of
three tasks required to populate the IceGuide
schedules with time and title
information for the Sydney station, TCN-9.
- Task
one was to cause IceTV's software to create a "starting template" populated with
time and title information copied from a past
IceGuide schedule for TCN-9 Sydney
for the same day of a previous week. This was done by Mr Rilett or one of
two other IceTV
staff, Ms Suzanne Langford or Ms Samantha Tai. By way
of example, the primary judge
explained[193]:
"Mr Rilett used the IceGuide for TCN-9 Sydney for Saturday, 16 September
2006 as the source schedule to create an IceGuide for
TCN-9 Sydney for Saturday,
23 September 2006. 'Predicting over' the source schedule using Ice[TV]'s
software caused the starting
template for 23 September 2006 to contain the
same program listings information as the source schedule, save for date and
episode
information."
This process was referred to within IceTV as "predicting it over" and relied on
the assumption, noted earlier in these reasons, that
the TCN-9 programming for
any given day was likely to be substantially the same as it was on the same day
of the previous week.
While that assumption was made good for "strip programs"
broadcast by TCN-9 in the same timeslots, 6:00 am to 7:00 pm,
Mondays
to Fridays, "predicting it over" could not accommodate movies, one-off
programmes or other changes in programming from week
to week.
- For
that reason, task two was necessary. This was to check the time and title
information in the starting template with at least
three online published
guides. In the event of the published guides indicating a variation in
programming from the previous week,
Mr Rilett, Ms Tai or
Ms Langford typically amended the starting template to reflect the time and
title information
in the published guides.
- To
illustrate the extent of amendments made, Bennett J found that it was
necessary for Mr Rilett to amend the time and
title information for
17 out of 31 timeslots in the starting template for TCN-9 for
Saturday, 23 September 2006.
However, the primary judge also found that
fewer amendments were necessary for weekdays because of strip and series
programmes.
Thus, her Honour's reasons recorded the making of changes to
programme title, time or episode for 13 out of 29 timeslots when creating
an
IceGuide schedule for TCN-9 for Monday, 2 October 2006.
- The
nature of amendments made to the starting template was further illustrated by
the setting out by the primary judge of each change
made by Mr Rilett in
creating the IceGuide schedule for TCN-9 for 23 September 2006. By way of
example of five such changes,
Mr Rilett[194]:
". changed the start time for Nightline from 12:25 am to
12:15 am to reflect the information in published guides;
. deleted the movie Lansky, which was scheduled to appear at
12:55 am in the IceGuide but was not in the published guides;
. added the movie The Inspectors at 12:45 am to the IceGuide, based
on the information in the published guides;
. changed the start time in the IceGuide for the Late Show with David
Letterman from 3:05 am to 2:35 am, based on the information in the
published guides;
. added the program Entertainment Tonight to the IceGuide at
3:30 am, based on the information in the published
guides".
However, the evidence also showed that the time and title information was not
universally amended to reflect the published guides.
For example, in the course
of making the amendments just described, Bennett J explained that
Mr Rilett[195]:
"ignored the published guides' indication that The Batman would be
broadcast at 8:05 am, 8:40 am and 9:20 am and instead left the
IceGuide starting template's indication that
Classic Looney Tunes would
be broadcast at these times. Mr Rilett disregarded the published guides as
he determined that TCN-9 Sydney may not broadcast
The Batman at that time
by reason of the program not being suitably rated for viewing during children's
hours".
- To
amend the time and title information in the starting template, Bennett J
found that IceTV staff searched the Ice Database
for programmes or episode
titles previously included in that database. This was done by causing IceTV's
software to generate an
on-screen list of available programme titles. Start
times could be selected or amended using on-screen "drop-down boxes", while
mouse-clicking buttons marked "Revise" or "Update Show" caused the software to
insert new starting times or programme titles into
the IceGuide schedule.
Episode titles were similarly presented by IceTV's software in a list available
to the operator and available
for selection for inclusion in the IceGuide
schedule. If, at the time of amendment of the starting template, the programme
or episode
had not been previously added to the Ice Database, it could be added
using IceTV's software.
- The
third and final task was to capture late changes to Nine's programming. The
primary judge found that this was done by Ms Langford,
who undertook a
daily comparison of the time and title information in the IceGuide schedule with
the listings in the YourTV Guide
for the up-coming 60-hour period. Late changes
were also inserted by Mr Rilett in response to information obtained from
his
review of a website styled Television Programming News and from
messages posted by subscribers on an online forum maintained on IceTV's
website.
- The
evidence showed the same three tasks were performed to create IceGuide schedules
for other stations in the Nine Network, subject
to one variation in task one.
This comprised the use of a different channel within the Nine Network as the
source schedule. Thus,
IceGuide schedules for GTV-9 in Melbourne were made by
"predicting over" time and title information derived from the IceGuide schedule
for TCN-9 for the same day. In the expectation that the same episodes would be
shown by the various stations in the Nine Network,
episode titles were retained
by IceTV's software where the source schedule channel was different from the
destination channel. The
evidence included a chart prepared by Mr Rilett
documenting the relevant "source schedule" for the various stations within the
Nine Network. However, for each new schedule, it remained necessary to repeat
task two and cross-check the time and title information
with online, publicly
available guides.
- One
further point concerning the making and updating of the IceGuide should be
noted. This concerns the source of the IceGuide synopses.
Bennett J found
that the synopses appearing in the IceGuide for the Nine Network were drafted by
two IceTV staff, Ms Madeleine
Doyle and Ms Kiriaki Orfanos. Reference
books such as Halliwell's Film & Video Guide 2002 and websites were
consulted for this purpose, but Ms Doyle and Ms Orfanos were not
permitted to have regard to the published
guides. The primary judge found that
IceTV's synopses had a different commercial purpose from that of Nine, as
evidenced by the
use of humour or criticism. For example, the IceGuide synopsis
for the Nine programme The Footy Show (AFL) on 28 September 2006
read:
"From [t]he Rod Laver Arena comes this extra long torture session. Apologies
for not bringing you the 'entertainment' line-up, it's
not through lack of
research. Unfortunately, the only way to have truly known was to be watching
The Footy Show last week and frankly,
not for love or money will the IceMan do
that. So, those of you who enjoy the 'humour' and baffling ego inflation.
Enjoy."
Conclusions
- When
the issue of substantiality is approached in the manner indicated in these
reasons, it is apparent that the primary judge reached
the correct result and
that this should not have been disturbed.
- Ice
also emphasised that the time and title information appearing in the Weekly
Schedule was "decompiled" into the very different
form of the Aggregated Guides,
and that IceTV derived the time and title information through that medium,
rather than directly from
the Weekly Schedule. Given the above conclusion
respecting the issue of substantiality, it is unnecessary to determine whether
the
fact of so-called "indirect copying" by IceTV prevented there being a
"reproduction" of the Weekly Schedule.
- One
final point should be made. This concerns the submission by the Digital
Alliance that this Court consider the Full Court's decision
in Desktop
Marketing[196]
and, to the contrary of Desktop Marketing, affirm that there must be
some "creative
spark"[197]
or exercise of "skill and
judgment"[198]
before a work is sufficiently "original" for the subsistence of copyright.
- It
is by no means apparent that the law even before the 1911 Act was to any
different effect to that for which the Digital Alliance
contends. It may be
that the reasoning in Desktop Marketing with respect to compilations is
out of line with the understanding of copyright law over many years. These
reasons explain the need
to treat with some caution the emphasis in Desktop
Marketing upon "labour and expense" per se and upon misappropriation.
However, in the light of the admission of Ice that the Weekly Schedule
was an
original literary work, this is not an appropriate occasion to take any further
the subject of originality in copyright works.
Orders
- The
appeal should be allowed with costs. The order of the Full Court made on
8 May 2008, as varied on 20 August 2008,
should be set aside and, in
place thereof, the appeal to that Court be dismissed with costs.
[1] As to the creation of the original
IceGuide schedules, see [19].
[2] Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd
v IceTV Pty Ltd (2007) 73 IPR 99 at 107 [31].
[3] Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd
v IceTV Pty Ltd (2008) 168 FCR 14 at 15 [1], 29 [56].
[4] See reasons of Gummow, Hayne and
Heydon JJ at [141]-[142].
[5] Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd
v IceTV Pty Ltd (2007) 73 IPR 99 at 107-108 [34]-[35]. See also reasons of
Gummow, Hayne and Heydon JJ at [118]-[119].
[6] At [141]-[142].
[7] At [147].
[8] Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd
v IceTV Pty Ltd (2007) 73 IPR 99 at 105 [22].
[9] See, albeit in a slightly
different context, Tate v Fullbrook [1908] 1 KB 821 at 832-833 per
Farwell LJ: "The Act creates a monopoly, and in such a case there must be
certainty in the subject-matter
of such monopoly in order to avoid injustice to
the rest of the world"; approved by the Privy Council in Green v Broadcasting
Corporation of New Zealand [1989] 2 All ER 1056 at 1058 per Lord Bridge of
Harwich.
[10] Cf Desktop Marketing Systems
Pty Ltd v Telstra Corporation Ltd [2002] FCAFC 112; (2002) 119 FCR 491.
[11] Newspaper Licensing Agency
Ltd v Marks and Spencer plc [2001] Ch 257 at 269 [30] per Peter Gibson LJ:
"I do not understand how in logic what is an insubstantial part of a work can
when
aggregated to another insubstantial part of another work become a
substantial part of the combined work". See also Electronic Techniques
(Anglia) Ltd v Critchley Components Ltd [1997] FSR 401 at 409-410 per Laddie
J; PCR Ltd v Dow Jones Telerate Ltd [1998] FSR 170 at 183 per Lloyd J.
Cf systematic or repeated copying from the one work: see, eg, Football
League Ltd v Littlewoods Pools Ltd [1959] Ch 637 ("Littlewoods").
See further Garnett, Davies and Harbottle, Copinger and Skone James on
Copyright, 15th ed (2005), vol 1 at 389-391 [7-29].
[12] See, eg, Trade Auxiliary Co
v Middlesborough and District Tradesmen's Protection Association (1888) 40
Ch D 425; Cate v Devon and Exeter Constitutional Newspaper Co (1889) 40
Ch D 500.
[13] Section 10(1). See Cala
Homes (South) Ltd v Alfred McAlpine Homes East Ltd [1995] FSR 818 for the
position in the United Kingdom.
[14] See, eg, British
Broadcasting Co v Wireless League Gazette Publishing Co [1926] Ch 433;
Independent Television Publications Ltd v Time Out Ltd [1984] FSR 64.
[15] See also Garnett, Davies and
Harbottle, Copinger and Skone James on Copyright, 15th ed (2005), vol 1
at 14 [1-33], 27 [2-05].
[16] "An Act for the encouragement
of learning, by vesting the copies of printed books in the authors or purchasers
of such copies, during
the times therein mentioned."
[17] "Whereas printers, booksellers,
and other persons have of late frequently taken the liberty of printing,
reprinting, and publishing,
or causing to be printed, reprinted, and published
books, and other writings, without the consent of the authors or proprietors of
such books and writings, to their very great detriment, and too often to the
ruin of them and their families: For preventing therefore
such practices for
the future, and for the encouragement of learned men to compose and write useful
books".
[18] 8 Anne c 19.
[19] For example, Sir Francis Bacon
(1561-1626) and John Locke (1632-1704).
[20] See, eg, Feist
Publications Inc v Rural Telephone Service Co Inc [1991] USSC 49; 499 US 340 (1991). In
this case the Supreme Court of the United States leaned in favour of the social
utility of copyright legislation.
See also CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of
Upper Canada 2004 SCC 13; [2004] 1 SCR 339.
[21] See, eg, Ginsburg, "No 'Sweat'?
Copyright and Other Protection of Works of Information after Feist v Rural
Telephone", (1992) 92 Columbia Law Review 338; Deazley, "The
Myth of Copyright at Common Law", (2003) 62 Cambridge Law Journal 106;
Scassa, "Recalibrating Copyright Law?: A Comment on the Supreme Court of
Canada's Decision in CCH Canadian Limited et al v Law Society of Upper
Canada", (2004) 3 Canadian Journal of Law and Technology 89; Longdin,
"Copyright Protection for Business Systems and Surveys: Disentangling Fact,
Form and Function", (2005) 11 New Zealand Business Law Quarterly 161;
Sims, "Copyright's Protection of Facts and Information", (2006) 12 New
Zealand Business Law Quarterly 360.
[22] Hollinrake v Truswell
[1894] 3 Ch 420 at 424 per Lord Herschell LC.
[23] See the cases cited in Garnett,
Davies and Harbottle, Copinger and Skone James on Copyright, 15th ed
(2005), vol 1 at 61-62 [3-16]. See also Ladbroke (Football) Ltd v William
Hill (Football) Ltd [1964] 1 WLR 273 at 277 per Lord Reid; [1964] 1 All ER
465 at 469 ("Ladbroke").
[24] See, eg, Blackie & Sons
Ltd v The Lothian Book Publishing Co Pty Ltd [1921] HCA 27; (1921) 29 CLR 396 at 400 per
Starke J; [1921] HCA 27; Victoria Park Racing and Recreation Grounds Co Ltd v
Taylor [1937] HCA 45; (1937) 58 CLR 479 at 497 per Latham CJ, 511 per Dixon J; [1937] HCA
45; Computer Edge Pty Ltd v Apple Computer Inc [1986] HCA 19; (1986) 161 CLR 171 at 181
per Gibbs CJ; [1986] HCA 19. See also Walter v Steinkopff [1892] 3 Ch
489; Chilton v Progress Printing and Publishing Co [1895] 2 Ch 29;
Odhams Press Ltd v London and Provincial Sporting News Agency (1929)
Ltd [1936] Ch 357 at 364 per Lord Wright MR; Littlewoods [1959] Ch
637 at 651-652 per Upjohn J; Fraser v Evans [1969] 1 QB 349 at 362 per
Lord Denning MR; Elanco Products Ltd v Mandops (Agrochemical Specialists)
Ltd [1979] FSR 46 at 52 per Goff LJ; Sawkins v Hyperion Records Ltd
[2005] EWCA Civ 565; [2005] 1 WLR 3281 at 3289 [29] per Mummery LJ; [2005] EWCA Civ 565; [2005] 3 All ER 636 at
642-643.
[25] Computer Edge Pty Ltd v
Apple Computer Inc [1986] HCA 19; (1986) 161 CLR 171 at 181 per Gibbs CJ; the definitions
of "literary work" and "writing" in s 10(1) of the Act.
[26] A feature of a work, such as
the "selection" or "arrangement" of its components, is capable of constituting a
part of the work which
has been reproduced and which is substantial:
Designers Guild Ltd v Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd (t/as Washington DC)
[2000] UKHL 58; [2000] 1 WLR 2416 at 2422 per Lord Hoffmann; [2000] UKHL 58; [2001] 1 All ER 700 at 706.
See, eg, MacMillan & Co Ltd v K & J Cooper (1923) 93 LJPC 113 at
119 per Lord Atkinson (selection); Ladbroke [1964] 1 WLR 273 at 276-278
per Lord Reid, 282-283 per Lord Evershed, 286, 288 per Lord Hodson, 289 per Lord
Devlin, 292 per Lord
Pearce; [1964] 1 All ER 465 at 469-470, 473, 475-476, 477,
478, 480 (arrangement).
[27] See, eg, Coke, 3 Inst at
181: "monopolies are against the ancient and fundamental laws of the realm".
See generally Heydon, The Restraint of Trade Doctrine, 3rd ed (2008), ch
1.
[28] "[I]t is the product of the
labour, skill and capital of one man which must not be appropriated by another,
not the elements, the
raw material ... upon which the labour and skill and
capital of the first have been expended": MacMillan & Co Ltd v K & J
Cooper (1923) 93 LJPC 113 at 117-118 per Lord Atkinson.
[29] Nine Network Australia Pty
Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd (2007) 73 IPR 99 at 143 [190], 144 [193], 148-149 [211],
156 [249].
[30] Ladbroke [1964] 1 WLR
273 at 276 per Lord Reid, 288 per Lord Hodson, 293 per Lord Pearce; [1964] 1 All
ER 465 at 469, 477, 481; S W Hart & Co Pty Ltd v Edwards Hot Water
Systems [1985] HCA 59; (1985) 159 CLR 466 at 474 per Gibbs CJ; [1985] HCA 59; Autodesk
Inc v Dyason [No 2] [1993] HCA 6; (1993) 176 CLR 300 at 305 per Mason CJ (in
dissent); [1993] HCA 6 ("Autodesk [No 2]"); Data Access Corporation v
Powerflex Services Pty Ltd (1999) 202 CLR 1 at 32-33 [83]-[84] per Gleeson
CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ; [1999] HCA 49 ("Data Access"). Quality
is also critical for works other than literary works: see, eg, Designers
Guild Ltd v Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd (t/as Washington DC) [2000] UKHL 58; [2000] 1
WLR 2416; [2001] 1 All ER 700 (artistic work); Hawkes & Son (London) Ltd
v Paramount Film Service Ltd ("the Colonel Bogey Case") [1934]
Ch 593 (musical work).
[31] The principle goes back to the
nineteenth century: see, eg, Scott v Stanford (1867) LR 3 Eq 718
at 723, 724 per Page Wood VC; Bradbury v Hotten [1852] EngR 756; (1872) LR 8 Exch 1 at 7
per Pigott B; Trade Auxiliary Co v Middlesborough and District
Tradesmen's Protection Association (1888) 40 Ch D 425 at 429 per
Chitty J; Leslie v Young & Sons [1894] AC 335 at 341 per Lord
Herschell LC; Cooper v Stephens [1895] 1 Ch 567 at 572 per Romer J.
However, as the "substantial part" test was expressly introduced for the first
time only with
the passage of the Copyright Act 1911 (Imp), the actual
focus of the nineteenth century cases was not on this point: see further
Garnett, Davies and Harbottle, Copinger and Skone James on Copyright,
15th ed (2005), vol 1 at 383 [7-26].
[32] University of London Press
Ltd v University Tutorial Press Ltd [1916] 2 Ch 601 at 610 per Peterson J,
discussed in Network Ten Pty Ltd v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 14; (2004) 218
CLR 273 at 281-282 [14]- [17] per McHugh ACJ, Gummow and Hayne JJ; [2004]
HCA 14. See also Baigent v Random House Group Ltd (2007) 72 IPR 195 at
222 [97] per Lloyd LJ. Though Peterson J's statement was made in the
context of his discussion of the subsistence
of copyright, it has subsequently
been applied as a test of substantiality in the context of infringement: see,
eg, Ladbroke [1964] 1 WLR 273 at 279 per Lord Reid, 288 per Lord Hodson,
293-294 per Lord Pearce; [1964] 1 All ER 465 at 471, 477-478, 481.
[33] For example, John Julius
Norwich, A History of Venice, (1982).
[34] See, eg, Ladbroke [1964]
1 WLR 273 at 283 per Lord Evershed; [1964] 1 All ER 465 at 473.
[35] Autodesk [No 2] [1993] HCA 6; (1993)
176 CLR 300 at 305 per Mason CJ (in dissent); Data Access (1999) 202 CLR
1 at 32-33 [83]-[84] per Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ. See also
Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd v Marks & Spencer plc [2003] 1 AC 551
at 559-560 [19] per Lord Hoffmann.
[36] Section 1(1), applied in
Australia pursuant to the Copyright Act 1912 (Cth). Now see the Act, s
32(1).
[37] Walter v Lane [1900] AC
539, discussed in Sands & McDougall Pty Ltd v Robinson (1917) 23 CLR
49; [1917] HCA 14.
[38] Robinson v Sands &
McDougall Pty Ltd [1916] HCA 51; (1916) 22 CLR 124 at 132-133 per Barton J; [1916] HCA
51; Sands & McDougall Pty Ltd v Robinson [1917] HCA 14; (1917) 23 CLR 49 at 52 per
Isaacs J; Victoria Park Racing and Recreation Grounds Co Ltd v Taylor
[1937] HCA 45; (1937) 58 CLR 479 at 511 per Dixon J; Autodesk Inc v Dyason [1992] HCA 2; (1992)
173 CLR 330 at 347 per Dawson J; [1992] HCA 2; Data Access (1999) 202 CLR
1 at 16 [22], 41 [122] per Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ. See also
the classic statement in University of London Press Ltd v University Tutorial
Press Ltd [1916] 2 Ch 601 at 608-609 per Peterson J. This approach was
recently confirmed by the English Court of Appeal in Sawkins v Hyperion
Records Ltd [2005] EWCA Civ 565; [2005] 1 WLR 3281; [2005] 3 All ER 636.
[39] Sands & McDougall Pty
Ltd v Robinson [1917] HCA 14; (1917) 23 CLR 49 at 52 per Isaacs J.
[40] Littlewoods [1959] Ch
637 at 651 per Upjohn J.
[41] University of London Press
Ltd v University Tutorial Press Ltd [1916] 2 Ch 601 at 608-609 per Peterson
J; Interlego AG v Croner Trading Pty Ltd [1992] FCA 624; (1992) 39 FCR 348 at 379 per
Gummow J.
[42] Sands & McDougall Pty
Ltd v Robinson [1917] HCA 14; (1917) 23 CLR 49 at 55 per Isaacs J.
[43] University of London Press
Ltd v University Tutorial Press Ltd [1916] 2 Ch 601 at 608 per Peterson J.
[44] A distinction between works
intended to convey "information" and works of "literary enjoyment" is drawn in
Hollinrake v Truswell [1894] 3 Ch 420 at 428 per Davey LJ. The
distinction was referred to in Computer Edge Pty Ltd v Apple Computer Inc
[1986] HCA 19; (1986) 161 CLR 171 at 182 per Gibbs CJ, 192 per Mason and Wilson JJ, 201 per
Brennan J.
[45] Littlewoods [1959] Ch
637 at 651-652 per Upjohn J.
[46] [1964] 1 WLR 273 at 293; [1964]
1 All ER 465 at 481. The statement of Lord Pearce has been approved by this
Court: Autodesk [No 2] [1993] HCA 6; (1993) 176 CLR 300 at 305 per Mason CJ (in
dissent); Data Access (1999) 202 CLR 1 at 32-33 [83]-[84] per Gleeson CJ,
McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ.
[47] See, eg, Cambridge
University Press v University Tutorial Press (1928) 45 RPC 335 at 343-344
per Maugham J; Warwick Film Productions Ltd v Eisinger [1969] 1 Ch 508 at
525ff, esp 533-534 per Plowman J. See also Baigent v Random House Group Ltd
(2007) 72 IPR 195 at 230 [142] per Mummery LJ.
[48] Data Access (1999) 202
CLR 1 at 31 [80] per Gleeson CJ, McHugh, Gummow and Hayne JJ.
[49] [1993] HCA 6; (1993) 176 CLR 300.
[50] (1999) 202 CLR 1.
[51] Autodesk Inc v Dyason
[1992] HCA 2; (1992) 173 CLR 330 at 347 per Dawson J.
[52] Autodesk [No 2] [1993] HCA 6; (1993)
176 CLR 300 at 306.
[53] Data Access (1999) 202
CLR 1 at 33 [85].
[54] Data Access (1999) 202
CLR 1 at 33-34 [87].
[55] Data Access (1999) 202
CLR 1 at 34 [88].
[56] Data Access (1999) 202
CLR 1 at 34 [92].
[57] Garnett, Davies and Harbottle,
Copinger and Skone James on Copyright, 15th ed (2005), vol 1 at 385
[7-27(d)]; see also at 385 [7-27(c)]. See, eg, Kenrick & Co v Lawrence
& Co (1890) 25 QBD 99 at 102-104, as explained in British Leyland
Motor Corporation Ltd v Armstrong Patents Co Ltd (1984) 3 IPR 32 at 45 per
Oliver LJ; Dixon Investments Pty Ltd v Hall (1990) 18 IPR 490 at 496 per
Lockhart, Spender and Ryan JJ; Ibcos Computers Ltd v Barclays Mercantile
Highland Finance Ltd (1994) 29 IPR 25 at 38 per Jacob J; Designers Guild
Ltd v Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd (t/as Washington DC) [2000] UKHL 58; [2000] 1 WLR 2416
at 2423 per Lord Hoffmann; [2000] UKHL 58; [2001] 1 All ER 700 at 706.
[58] See, eg, FAI Insurances Ltd
v Advance Bank Australia Ltd (1986) 68 ALR 133 at 141 per Pincus J.
[59] See, eg, Ravenscroft v
Herbert [1980] RPC 193 at 204-205 per Brightman J. See also, albeit in
the context of subsistence, the comments in MacMillan & Co Ltd v
K & J Cooper (1923) 93 LJPC 113 at 117 per Lord Atkinson.
[60] See, eg, MacMillan & Co
Ltd v K & J Cooper (1923) 93 LJPC 113 at 117-118, 121 per Lord Atkinson;
G A Cramp & Sons Ltd v Frank Smythson Ltd [1944] AC 329 at 335
per Viscount Simon LC; Computer Edge Pty Ltd v Apple Computer Inc
[1986] HCA 19; (1986) 161 CLR 171 at 182-183 per Gibbs CJ; Interlego AG v Tyco
Industries Inc [1988] UKPC 3; [1989] AC 217 at 260-261 per Lord Oliver of Aylmerton.
[61] [1991] USSC 49; 499 US 340 (1991).
[62] Feist Publications
Inc v Rural Telephone Service Co Inc [1991] USSC 49; 499 US 340 at 346 (1991) per O'Connor
J, quoting the Constitution of the United States of America, Art I, §8, cl
8.
[63] Feist Publications
Inc v Rural Telephone Service Co Inc [1991] USSC 49; 499 US 340 at 349 (1991) per O'Connor
J.
[64] Feist Publications
Inc v Rural Telephone Service Co Inc [1991] USSC 49; 499 US 340 at 349 (1991) per O'Connor
J, quoting the Constitution of the United States of America, Art I, §8, cl
8.
[65] Copyright Act 1976 (US),
§102(b), codified as 17 USC §102(b):
"In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship
extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of
operation, concept,
principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described,
explained, illustrated, or embodied
in such work."
See Feist Publications Inc v Rural Telephone Service Co Inc
[1991] USSC 49; 499 US 340 at 354-356 (1991) per O'Connor J.
[66] See the articles cited in
footnote 21.
[67] This does not mean creative in
the literary sense, or novel or inventive.
[68] See, eg, Ladbroke [1964]
1 WLR 273 at 288 per Lord Hodson; [1964] 1 All ER 465 at 477; Designers Guild
Ltd v Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd (t/as Washington DC) [2000] UKHL 58; [2000] 1 WLR 2416
at 2431 per Lord Scott of Foscote; [2000] UKHL 58; [2001] 1 All ER 700 at 714.
[69] "The essence of literary
copyright is proprietary protection (in the form of exclusive rights to do acts
restricted by the copyright
in the work) for a literary work in recognition of
the investment of effort, time and skill in reducing it into material
form, such as words, signs and symbols" (emphasis added): Baigent v
Random House Group Ltd (2007) 72 IPR 195 at 230 [141] per Mummery LJ, see
also at 232 [155]-[156] per Mummery LJ. See also Bowater Windows Ltd v Aspen
Windows Ltd [1999] FSR 759 at 781-782 per Rimer J; Designers Guild Ltd v
Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd [2000] FSR 121 at 131 [20] per Morritt LJ;
Garnett, Davies and Harbottle, Copinger and Skone James on Copyright,
15th ed (2005), vol 1 at 29 [2-06].
[70] [1926] Ch 433.
[71] [1959] Ch 637.
[72] [1964] 1 WLR 273; [1964] 1 All
ER 465.
[73] [1984] FSR 64.
[74] [1926] Ch 433 at 443 per
Astbury J.
[75] [1959] Ch 637 at 657 per Upjohn
J.
[76] [1964] 1 WLR 273 at 283-284;
[1964] 1 All ER 465 at 473-474.
[77] [1964] 1 WLR 273 at 279 per
Lord Reid, 288 per Lord Hodson, 293-294 per Lord Pearce; [1964] 1 All ER 465 at
471, 477-478, 481.
[78] [1984] FSR 64 at 73-74 per
Whitford J.
[79] See also Catnic Components
Ltd v Hill & Smith Ltd [1982] RPC 183 at 223 per Buckley LJ, quoted in
S W Hart & Co Pty Ltd v Edwards Hot Water Systems [1985] HCA 59; (1985) 159 CLR
466 at 483 per Wilson J, 494 per Deane J; Interlego AG v Tyco Industries Inc
[1988] UKPC 3; [1989] AC 217 at 265 per Lord Oliver.
[80] Skybase Nominees Pty Ltd v
Fortuity Pty Ltd (1996) 36 IPR 529 at 531 per Hill J.
[81] [2002] FCAFC 112; (2002) 119 FCR 491 at 547-554
[218]- [254] per Lindgren J, 600-601 [437]-[446] per Sackville J.
[82] Ladbroke [1964] 1 WLR
273 at 290 per Lord Devlin; [1964] 1 All ER 465 at 478-479.
[83] See also Nine Network
Australia Pty Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd (2008) 168 FCR 14 at 41 [111] per Black
CJ, Lindgren and Sackville JJ ("extremely modest").
[84] Reasons of Gummow, Hayne and
Heydon JJ at [171]ff. Cf Baigent v Random House Group Ltd (2007) 72 IPR
195 at 222 [95]-[97] per Lloyd LJ; Garnett, Davies and Harbottle, Copinger
and Skone James on Copyright, 15th ed (2005), vol 1 at 389 [7-28(d)].
[85] Nine Network Australia Pty
Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd (2008) 168 FCR 14.
[86] Nine Network Australia Pty
Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd (2007) 73 IPR 99.
[87] Nine Network Australia Pty
Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd (No 2) [2008] FCAFC 154.
[88] (2008) 168 FCR 14 at
36-37.
[89] [2003] 1 AC 551
at 559-561.
[90] [2003] 1 AC 551
at 561.
[91] (1996) 65 FCR 399
at 418.
[92] (2008) 168 FCR 14 at
37.
[93] 17 USC, ch 1.
[94] See Feist Publications, Inc
v Rural Telephone Service Co, Inc 499 US 340 at 357
(1991).
[95] Copyright Act
RSC 1985, ch C-42, s 2.
[96] 8 Fed Cas 615
(1845).
[97] (1917) 23 CLR
49 at 56; [1917] HCA 14.
[98] See Commonwealth Industrial
Gases Ltd v MWA Holdings Pty Ltd (1970) 180 CLR 160 at 167-168;
[1970] HCA 38.
[99] See, eg, Edelsten v
Edelsten (1863) 1 De G J & S 185 at 199-200 [46
ER 72 at 78].
[100] Burge v Swarbrick
(2007) 232 CLR 336; [2007] HCA 17.
[101] [2000] 1 WLR 2416 at
2418; [2001] 1 All ER 700 at 701.
[102] Designers Guild Ltd v
Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd [2000] FSR 121 at 131.
[103] [1964] 1 WLR 273
at 279; [1964] 1 All ER 465 at 471.
[104] University of London
Press Ltd v University Tutorial Press Ltd [1916] 2 Ch 601
at 610.
[105] See [130]-[134].
[106] See the remarks of
McLachlin CJ in CCH Canadian Ltd v Law Society of Upper Canada
[2004] 1 SCR 339 at 355-356.
[107] William Hill (Football)
Ltd v Ladbroke (Football) Ltd [1980] RPC 539 at 550. The case was
decided in 1962.
[108] Mr S C Buxton, later Earl
Buxton.
[109] United Kingdom, House of
Commons, Parliamentary Debates, 5th series, vol 23,
7 April 1911 at 2587-2593. The other two reasons given were the need
to replace some 22 statutes
beginning in 1735, and to achieve uniformity
throughout the Empire.
[110] By the Berlin Act,
Art 2(2).
[111] By the Brussels Act,
Art 2. This is now reflected in the terms of Art 2(5) of the Berne
Convention.
[112] (1916) 22 CLR 124
at 129; [1916] HCA 51.
[113] See Halsbury's Laws of
England, 1st ed (1909), vol 8 at 145-146 [353].
[114] 5 & 6
Vict, c 45. This defined (in s 2) "Copyright" as including "the
sole and exclusive Liberty of printing
or otherwise multiplying Copies" of any
"Book"; and "Book" included "every Volume, Part or Division of a Volume,
Pamphlet, Sheet
of Letterpress, Sheet of Music, Map, Chart, or Plan separately
published".
[115] [1894] AC 335.
[116] Bradbury v Hotten
(1872) LR 8 Exch 1 at 7; Cooper v Stephens [1895]
1 Ch 567 at 572.
[117] [1894] AC 335 at
341.
[118] Copyright Law Review
Committee, Report of the Committee Appointed by the Attorney-General of the
Commonwealth to Consider what Alterations are Desirable in The Copyright
Law of
the Commonwealth, (1959) ("the Report").
[119] At 89.
[120] See Football League Ltd v
Littlewoods Pools Ltd [1959] Ch 637.
[121] Television Broadcasting
Services (Digital Conversion) Act 1998 (Cth) ("the 1998 Amending Act").
[122] Australia, House of
Representatives, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 8 April 1998 at
2830-2831.
[123] See, eg, Broadcasting
Services Amendment (Digital Television and Datacasting) Act 2000 (Cth).
[124] See now s 111 of the
Act and also Network Ten Pty Ltd v TCN Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 14; (2004) 218
CLR 273 at 287-288 [31]; [2004] HCA 14.
[125] Subscription fees are
approximately $3 per week, $13 per month, $39 per quarter or $146 per annum.
[126] (2007) 73 IPR 99
at 122-123.
[127] (2007) 73 IPR 99
at 123.
[128] See [172]-[184].
[129] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 45.
[130] cf (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 30.
[131] Stevens v Kabushiki
Kaisha Sony Computer Entertainment [2005] HCA 58; (2005) 224 CLR 193 at 199-200 [2]- [3];
[2005] HCA 58.
[132] Sands & McDougall Pty
Ltd v Robinson [1917] HCA 14; (1917) 23 CLR 49 at 53; Data Access Corporation v
Powerflex Services Pty Ltd (1999) 202 CLR 1 at 16 [22]; [1999] HCA 49. See
also Ginsburg, "The Concept of Authorship in Comparative Copyright Law", (2003)
52
DePaul Law Review 1063; Birnhack, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Case: Who is
an Author?", (2001) 23 European Intellectual Property Review 128.
[133] (1937) 58 CLR 479 at
510; [1937] HCA 45.
[134] Defined by s 32(4) to
include an Australian citizen or a person resident in Australia.
[135] 1988 UK Act,
s 9(3).
[136] Laddie, Prescott and
Vitoria, The Modern Law of Copyright, (1980) at 243 [6.6].
[137] Laddie, Prescott and
Vitoria, The Modern Law of Copyright and Designs, 2nd ed (1995),
vol 1 at 550 [11.11].
[138] Network Ten Pty Ltd v TCN
Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 14; (2004) 218 CLR 273 at 294 [51].
[139] Copinger and Skone James
on Copyright, 14th ed (1999), vol 1 at 101 [3.74]. See also
Campomar Sociedad, Limitada v Nike International Ltd [2000] HCA 12; (2000) 202 CLR 45 at
67 [45]- [46]; [2000] HCA 12; Théberge v Galerie d'Art du Petit
Champlain Inc 2002 SCC 34; [2002] 2 SCR 336 at 353-354, 397-398; Loughlan, "Copyright
Law, Free Speech and Self-Fulfilment", (2002) 24 Sydney Law Review
427 at 428-431.
[140] [1944] AC 329 at 336,
338.
[141] [1959] Ch 637 at
646-649.
[142] [1916] HCA 51; (1916) 22 CLR 124 at
128-129.
[143] See [141].
[144] It was not suggested that
the "Excel" and "text" format of the Weekly Schedule were different as to form
or content in any relevant
respect.
[145] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 37.
[146] (2008) 168 FCR 14 at 41.
[147] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 42.
[148] Network Ten Pty Ltd v TCN
Channel Nine Pty Ltd [2004] HCA 14; (2004) 218 CLR 273 at 281-282 [14]- [17]. See also
Deazley, "Copyright in the House of Lords: Recent Cases, Judicial Reasoning and
Academic Writing", (2004) 8 Intellectual Property Quarterly 121 at
134-135.
[149] cf International News
Service v Associated Press [1918] USSC 194; 248 US 215 (1918); Moorgate Tobacco Co Ltd v
Philip Morris Ltd [No 2] (1984) 156 CLR 414 at 440-442;
[1984] HCA 73.
[150] [2002] FCAFC 112; (2002) 119 FCR 491.
[151] [2002] FCAFC 112; (2002) 119 FCR 491 at 599
per Sackville J (emphasis added); see also at 535 per Lindgren J.
[152] (2002) 119 FCR 491 at
535-536, 600. See also Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd
(2008) 168 FCR 14 at 36.
[153] Telstra Corporation Ltd v
Desktop Marketing Systems Pty Ltd [2001] FCA 612; (2001) 181 ALR 134 at 136.
[154] Directive 96/9/EC of 11
March 1996, OJ No L77, 27 March 1996 at 20.
[155] Cornish, Intellectual
Property: Omnipresent, Distracting, Irrelevant?, (2004) at
37-38.
[156] Cornish, Intellectual
Property: Omnipresent, Distracting, Irrelevant?, (2004) at 38.
[157] Chapter I, Art 1(2).
[158] Chapter III, Art 7(1).
[159] Chapter III, Art 9.
[160] Chapter III, Art 8.
[161] Chapter II,
Art 3(1).
[162] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 43.
[163] See [116]-[117].
[164] This was consistent with
particulars supplied by Nine on 7 July 2006, which had stated:
"Nine confirms that the authors of the Nine Program Schedules as published
since April 2005 are Mr Michael Healy and Ms Penny
Wieland, both of whom
are Australian residents and have at all relevant times been employees of
Nine."
[165] (2003) at 21.
[166] Davison, The Legal
Protection of Databases, (2003) at 22-23.
[167] See [98].
[168] The text of the definition
of "work of joint authorship" is set out above at [100].
[169] Tillmanns Butcheries Pty
Ltd v Australasian Meat Industry Employees' Union (1979) 42 FLR 331
at 348.
[170] See Wong v Silkfield Pty
Ltd (1999) 199 CLR 255 at 266-267 [27]; [1999] HCA 48.
[171] At [72]-[76].
[172] Autodesk Inc v Dyason [No
2] (1993) 176 CLR 300 at 305; [1993] HCA 6.
[173] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 37.
[174] [2003] 1 AC 551.
[175] See [62].
[176] (2002) 119 FCR 491 at
535-536.
[177] (1999) 202 CLR 1
at 30-34 [77]-[87].
[178] 45 F 2d 119
at 121 (1930).
[179] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 40-41.
[180] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 39.
[181] See, in particular,
s 51(3) of that statute.
[182] Broadcasting Legislation
Amendment (Digital Television) Act 2006 (Cth).
[183] Broadcasting Act,
s 130K(3)(b).
[184] See News Group Newspapers
Ltd v Independent Television Publications Ltd [1993] RPC 173
at 179-180.
[185] [1995] FSR 530.
[186] See [121].
[187] (2008) 168 FCR 14
at 41.
[188] [1894] AC 335 at
341.
[189] Milpurrurru v Indofurn
Pty Ltd (1994) 54 FCR 240 at 260-261; Gold Peg International
Pty Ltd v Kovan Engineering (Aust) Pty Ltd (2005) 225 ALR 57
at 104.
[190] [1984] FSR 64.
[191] [1984] FSR 64 at
69.
[192] [1984] FSR 64 at 67,
73.
[193] (2007) 73 IPR 99
at 132.
[194] (2007) 73 IPR 99
at 132.
[195] (2007) 73 IPR
99 at 133.
[196] (2002) 119 FCR 491.
[197] Feist Publications, Inc v
Rural Telephone Service Co, Inc 499 US 340 at 345 (1991).
[198] CCH Canadian Ltd v Law
Society of Upper Canada [2004] 1 SCR 339 at 352.
AustLII:
Copyright Policy
|
Disclaimers
|
Privacy Policy
|
Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2009/14.html