AFL, NRL and Telstra administrators would be fuming with today’s Federal court’s decision that essentially finds Optus not guilty of infringing copyright laws. Justice Steven Rares stated that Optus TV Now services, which recorded footy matches for viewers to watch on their mobile devices at a later time, did not infringe copyright.
The judgement was primarily made in Optus’ favour becasue the live footy matches would be broadcast over Free-To-Air TV networks and the right to record FTA television and play it back at later stage, although only two minutes later, fell within the time-shifting exception law of the Copyright Act 2006.
There’s no doubt that Telstra would be bitterly dissappointed with this decision given they paid the AFL $153 million to secure exclusive broadcast rights for AFL matches delivered over the Internet. However, the Telco also indicated that they will honor the agreement with the AFL although they originally threatened to tear up the contract if Optus won the case.
The outcome of this hearing certainly paves the way for interesting times ahead when considering the consequences of the decision. For instance, will the affected parties seek to take this matter futher with an appeal? What rammifications could a ‘precedent’ such as this present for those in similar copyright situations? Then again, are Optus entirely clear of copyright infrigements by delivering the broadcasts to Apple device users by Quicktime Streaming technology?
Read more at itnews.com.au – Optus wins copyright case over cloud service
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