related
Guide:

Intellectual
Property

related
Profiles:

     Cases 1990 to 1995

This page supplements the Intellectual Property Guide elsewhere on this site, identifying major copyright law rulings by courts and tribunals since 1990, along with pointers to selected academic studies.

It covers -

• Media Monitors case (1990)
• APRA v Jain (1990)
• Banknote case (1991)
• Autodesk v Dyason (1992)
• APRA v Commonwealth Bank (1993)
• Blank Tape case (1993)
• Erica Vale 'seed packets' case (1994)
• Milpurrurru v Indofurn 'carpets' case (1994)
• Data Access Corporation v Powerflex Services (1995)
• Zupanovich v Beale (1995)
• Nationwide News (1995)

     Media Monitors Case

1990 De Garis v Neville Jeffress Pidler - Federal Court decision on fair dealing and employee ownership of copyright. The Federal Court held that a news clipping agency could not rely on the defence of fair dealing for research or study when supplying photocopied articles to clients because company itself was not engaged in research or study and the dealing was purely commercial. | 18 IPR 292 (1991); 20 IPR 605 (1990)

See in particular the Copyright Law Review Committee's Report on Journalists Copyright (PDF) and Peter Brudenall's 1997 paper The Future of Fair Dealing in Australian Copyright Law.

     APRA v Jain

1990 APRA v Valamo Py Ltd and Narendra Kumar Jain - Valamo, as proprietor of the Old Windsor Tavern, allowed use of that venue for an unauthorised music performance. Jain, as Financial Controller and Principal Executive Officer of Valamo, was seen to be authorising that infringement because he ignored approaches by APRA even though he did not know what music was going to be played. | 18 IPR 663 (1990)

     Banknote Case

1991 Yumbulul v Reserve Bank of Australia - Federal Court decision on indigenous IP ('banknote case') | 21 IPR 481

     Autodesk case

1992 Autodesk v Dyason (No 1) - High Court ruling on protection for computer source code and object code | 173 CLR 330 FC 92/001

     APRA v Commonwealth Bank

1993 APRA v Commonwealth Bank - Federal Court decision - definition of public performance (instructional video) | 25 IPR 157

     Blank Tape Case

1993 Australian Tape Manufacturers Association v Commonwealth - High Court decision rules that 'blank tape levy' is unconstitutional | 176 CLR 480 FC 93/004

     Seeds Case

1994 Erica Vale Pty Ltd v Thompson & Morgan (Ipswich) Ltd - Federal Court decision on originality (protection for instructions on seed packets)

     Carpets Case

1994 Milpurrurru v Indofurn Pty Ltd - case regarding indigenous IP ('carpets case') | 54 FCR 240 (1994) 130 ALR 659. See Terri Janke's Minding Culture: Case Studies on Intellectual Property & Traditional Cultural Expressions - The Carpets Case (PDF)

     Data Access v Powerflex

1995 Data Access Corporation v Powerflex Services Pty Ltd - Federal Court decision on software

     Zupanovich v Beale

1995 Robert J Zupanovich Pty Ltd v B&N Beale Nominees Pty Ltd - employee rights

     Nationwide News

1996 Nationwide News Pty Ltd v Copyright Agency Ltd - originality (published edition copyright)

   next page  (1996-2000)