Tagged: copyright infringement

Copyright, ISPs and authorisation

The Commonwealth Government released an Online Copyright Infringement discussion paper (pdf) on 30 July 2014. Responses are required by 1 September 2014. The problem the discussion paper identifies is the high level of usage of the Internet by Australians to infringe copyright by downloading illegally movies, recorded music and the like and a perceived need, following the High Court’s decision in Village Roadshow v iiNet, to compel ISPs to negotiate with copyright owners about the introduction of systems such as ‘Notice and Takedown (and Put back)’ procedures.

Swimwear manufacturer’s use of prior copyright works for “inspiration” steps over the line into infringement.

Co-authored by Peter Heerey AM QC, Tom Cordiner and Alan Nash. This was a claim of copyright infringement brought by Seafolly in respect of three artistic works printed on fabric used to manufacture various of Seafolly’s swimwear and beachwear. It alleged that certain artwork of a similar nature used by the respondent (trading as City Beach) on its products reproduced a substantial part of those works and that reproduction was not the result of independent creation.

The hazards of using the Internet to source promotional images

Co-authored by Peter Heerey AM QC, Tom Cordiner and Alan Nash. Mr Tyler is a Hawaii based photographer who sells and licenses his works as stock photographs. The respondent is a travel agent whose business is conducted over the Internet. She used one of Mr Tyler’s photographs without obtaining a licence from him, and rather than take down the image when confronted with her conduct sought to blame an unnamed web developer.

2 years gaol for contempt

Failure to comply with an injunction not to infringe someone’s intellectual property right is not only an infringement of that intellectual property right but also a contempt of court. The sanctions for contempt of court are many including, potentially, fines and imprisonment – even in intellectual property cases. The Full Federal Court has confirmed that imprisonment was the appropriate sanction for Mr Vladimir Vaysman’s repeated breaches of injunctions not to infringe trade mark and copyright, but reduced the sentence from 3 years to 2 years.