In February 2012, we asked
"Did Telstra pay $153 M for nothing?"
On 27 April 2012, the Full Court of the Federal Court said
"NO" and overturned Justice Rares' earlier
decision finding that the Optus TV Now service infringed the
copyright in the broadcasts that it recorded.
By way of a refresher, the decision concerned the Optus TV Now
service which allowed Optus customers who subscribe to the service
to record free to air TV.
Justice Rares initially found that the TV Now service provided
the same service as that of a personal video recorder and that as a
result the customer, not Optus, had "made" the recording
and there was no copyright infringed.
The Full Court of the Federal Court in overturning that decision
also focussed heavily on who "makes" the recording and
found that, although the end user does, Optus also makes the
recording in that it "designed and maintained a
sophisticated system which can [make] recordings".
