Copyright protection for TV guides

IceTV Pty Ltd & Anor v Nine Network Australia Pty Limited [2008] HCATrans 308 (26 August 2008)

In an earlier post this year, we looked at the appeal in Nine Network Australia Pty Limited v IceTV Pty Limited [2008] FCAFC 71 (8 May 2008) involving copyright protection in TV guides:
http://www.iproo.net/2008/05/copyright-protection-for-tv-guides.html

Recently, special leave was granted to have the matter heard before the High Court. In transcript, Justice Gummow said:

"There will be a grant of a special leave in this matter. The Court will allow one and a half to two days, I think, and we expect to have the assistance of counsel to deal with this matter thoroughly without any reticence in starting at the bottom, so to speak, and we expect counsel to be familiar with the academic writing in this field. They have already been referred, I think, to an article by Dr Deazley in [2004] Intellectual Property Quarterly 121. There is also what may be a useful article by Professor Sterk in Michigan Law Review for 1996, Volume 94, pp 1197 called Rhetoric and Reality in Copyright Law. There is a lot of other material out there as well. I hope the arguments will be informed with all of that, at least in a suitable background."

Given the High Court's referral to academic literature abroad, the final judgment will no doubt provide an insightful framework for future cases in this copyright field.