Today the High Court will hear the appeal in Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd and Ors v. Global Gaming Supplies Pty Ltd and Ors and Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd and Ors v. Allam and Ors.

The cases relate to infringement of copyright in Aristocrat’s gaming machines under section 38 of the Copyright Act 1968. That section is concerned with infringement by sale or other dealings with copyright material where a person ought reasonably to have known that the material was infringing.

The key issue in the cases relates to the admissibility of emails indicating a tendency on behalf of the respondents to engage in infringing conduct. Under section 97 of the Evidence Act 1995 tendency evidence would not normally be admissible as evidence of a party’s state of mind. In the Aristocrat cases, for example, the tendency evidence might show that the respondents ought to have known that the machines were infringing as required by section 38 of the Copyright Act.

The case will be an interesting one to watch, given current community attitudes towards copyright law and the prevalence of infringements in the digital environment.

The submissions are available here: http://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/case_s168-2012

The transcript from today’s hearing should be available at the same link shortly.