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First major Pay TV transmission case decided by Federal Court
13/11/2009

This case concerned the interception of signals during an authorised transmission of an episode of a TV series in Taiwan; the signal was then re-transmitted to subscribers of a pay TV service in Australia.

The Federal Court of Australia has found that the re-transmission constituted a communication of the episode, within the meaning of section 10 of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). It consequently held that the corporation which intercepted and re-transmitted the episode infringed copyright in the film comprising that episode. It further held that the Chairman of Directors of the corporation was liable for authorising the infringement.

More:

TVBO Production Ltd & Ors v Australia Sky Net Pty Ltd & Ors [2009] FCA 1132