Copyright in Television Programme Guides – Indirect Copying

The recent Australian Full Federal Court decision in Nine Network Australia Pty Ltd v IceTV Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 71 provides an interesting perspective on compilation copyright and indirect copying.

Summary

IceTV ("Ice") provides a subscription based electronic program guide (EPG) for television called "IceGuide".  Ice obtains time and title information for television programme schedules from “aggregated guides".  "Aggregators" combine information supplied by, for example, the Nine Television Network ("Nine"), with comparable information provided by other television broadcasters. 

The primary judge had rejected a claim by Nine that Ice had infringed Nine’s copyright in its weekly television programme schedules, holding that Nine had not established that Ice had reproduced a substantial part of Nine’s copyright works.  In particular, the judge at first instance held that Ice had adopted its own format and content (indirectly obtained from the aggregated guides) and utilised its own skill and labour in arranging the format or content of the information.

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