{"id":1304,"date":"2012-02-01T17:30:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T07:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/?p=1304"},"modified":"2013-06-02T16:35:21","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T06:35:21","slug":"optus-tv-now-service-approved-by-federal-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/?p=1304","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Optus TV Now&#8217; service approved by Federal Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-654\" title=\"Telstra AFL_tablet\" src=\"http:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2011\/04\/AFL_tablet_HiRes_0497-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"430\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/AFL_tablet_HiRes_0497-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/AFL_tablet_HiRes_0497-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/AFL_tablet_HiRes_0497-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 430px) 100vw, 430px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <strong>Optus TV Now<\/strong> service has been given the stamp of approval by the <strong>Federal Court of Australia<\/strong> today. The service, according to <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.optus.com.au\/home\/digital-life\/tv-now\/\">Optus<\/a><\/strong>,?allows a user to record and watch later free-to-air TV shows on a user&#8217;s mobile or PC. It allows an Optus customer the freedom to record TV shows anytime, anywhere to play back later at their convenience on as little as a two minute delay.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3OO7Fc5kbQE\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"520\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The service began in July 2011 and raised the suspicion of the<strong> AFL<\/strong> and <strong>NRL<\/strong>. The winter football leagues claimed that Optus&#8217; service infringed on the copyright of match broadcasts owned by both leagues. <strong>Telstra<\/strong> holds the mobile &amp; internet broadcast rights for the <strong>AFL and NRL<\/strong> in Australia.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The<strong> AFL, NRL<\/strong> and<strong> Telstra<\/strong> brought proceedings against <strong>Singtel Optus and Optus<\/strong>?arguing that?<strong>Optus<\/strong> had breached the Applicants&#8217; copyright in broadcasts of a number of AFL and NRL games made in September and October last year.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Justice Rares<\/strong> in the <strong>Federal Court Judgment Summary<\/strong> said that the <strong>Optus TV Now<\/strong> system works by a user clicking &#8220;the ?record? button for a program in the service?s EPG, [and then] Optus? equipment records that program individually for each user&#8230;These copies were stored in Optus? NAS (network attached storage) computer in its data centre.?The user can view the recording in the 30 days following the time of the original broadcast. When a user clicks ?play? on his or her compatible device, Optus? data centre streams the copy of the program in the appropriate format to that device so that the user can watch it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Optus<\/strong> relied on <strong>Section 111<\/strong> of the <strong><em>Copyright Act 1968 <\/em>(Cth) <\/strong>to argue its service did not infringe the Applicants&#8217; copyright. <strong>Section 111<\/strong>?applies:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;if a person makes a cinematograph film or sound recording of a broadcast solely for private and domestic use by watching or listening to the material broadcast at a time more convenient than the time when the broadcast is made.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Under <strong>s111(2)<\/strong> of the <strong><em>Copyright Act?<\/em><\/strong>if the recording is for such purpose the recording will not infringe the Applicants&#8217; copyright in match broadcast.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Justice Rares<\/strong>?held that the user &#8216;clicked&#8217; the record button despite Optus providing the technical infrastructure for recordings to occur. This was akin to an individual using a VCR to record a television show and therefore Optus was not making the recording but the user was.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The recordings were held not to infringe <strong>s111(1) &amp; (2) <em>Copyright Act 1968 <\/em>(Cth)<\/strong> because the &#8220;evidence suggested that individual users had made the recordings using the TV Now service solely for their private and domestic use by watching the recordings at a more convenient time .&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As the service was directed at individual users and in effect controlled by that user as to what was recorded and what was played when, it was in fact the user making the recordings and not Optus. As a result?<strong>Justice Rares<\/strong>?held that?the <strong>Optus? TV Now<\/strong> service did not infringe copyright in the broadcasts of the <strong>AFL and NRL<\/strong> games as alleged by the Applicants.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The outcome of the case has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.afr.com\/p\/national\/optus_cleared_in_copyright_case_IfB4Mocv9fmtby76LEnaJO\">reportedly<\/a>?put Telstra&#8217;s newly purchased AFL rights in jeopardy as they are potentially devalued because Optus can provide near live coverage to its customers when AFL matches are broadcast on free-to-air.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The <strong>AFL, NRL and Telstra<\/strong> have been ordered to pay <strong>Optus&#8217;<\/strong> costs, but given the likely commercial impact of the decision leave to appeal to the Federal Court&#8217;s decision to the Full Federal Court has been granted without need for a formal application.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The AFL&#8217;s <strong>Chief Operating Officer Gillon McLachlan<\/strong> said on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.afl.com.au\/news\/newsarticle\/tabid\/208\/newsid\/128431\/default.aspx\">AFL.com.au<\/a>,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;We maintain that the Optus action is a breach of copyright. However, we are only in the preseason of this issue &#8211; it is highly likely we will appeal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton<\/strong> told <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/business\/optus-wins-landmark-web-broadcast-rights-case-20120201-1qsoi.html#ixzz1l72L2yuk\">Fairfax Media<\/a><\/strong> outside the Court that,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8221;This is an early stage. We remain committed to protecting the content rights?in which Telstra has invested, in which the sporting bodies rely for income and which ultimately flows through to the fans of our sports.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Frost Global will continue to monitor this case as more news comes to hand.<\/p>\n<p><strong>References\/Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.austlii.edu.au\/au\/cases\/cth\/FCA\/2012\/34.html\"><em>Singtel Optus Pty Ltd v National Rugby League Investments Pty Ltd (No 2)?<\/em>[2012] FCA 34?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.afr.com\/p\/national\/optus_cleared_in_copyright_case_IfB4Mocv9fmtby76LEnaJO\">Optus cleared in copyright case<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.optus.com.au\/home\/digital-life\/tv-now\/\">Optus &amp; Singtel &#8211; TV Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.comlaw.gov.au\/Details\/C2011C00750\"><em>Copyright Act 1968 <\/em>(Cth)<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"dnn_ctr116061_contentPane\" align=\"left\">\n<div id=\"dnn_ctr116061_ModuleContent\">\n<div id=\"dnn_ctr116061_ViewJSPanel_JSPanelDiv\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.afl.com.au\/news\/newsarticle\/tabid\/208\/newsid\/128431\/default.aspx\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.afl.com.au\/images\/mockup_AFLCtlGalleryLibraryForNews.png\" alt=\"AFLCtlGalleryLibraryForNews\" \/>Mobile fight not over<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/business\/optus-wins-landmark-web-broadcast-rights-case-20120201-1qsoi.html\">Optus wins landmark web broadcast rights case<\/a><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Optus TV Now service has been given the stamp of approval by the Federal Court of Australia today. The service, according to Optus,?allows a user to record and watch later free-to-air TV shows on a user&#8217;s mobile or PC. It allows an Optus customer the freedom to record TV shows anytime, anywhere to play&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/?p=1304\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8216;Optus TV Now&#8217; service approved by Federal Court<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[174,39,7],"tags":[168,700,104,701,101,86,699,18,49],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p25SQa-l2","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1304"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1927,"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1304\/revisions\/1927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.frostglobal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}