Telstra battles directory ruling: directory copyright battle

The Australian | January 21, 2011 | Mitchell Bingemann
TELSTRA has applied for leave to appeal to the High Court against a ruling that its Sensis directories are not protected by copyright law.
Telstra, which has spent millions of dollars collecting and collating databases for its Yellow and White Pages businesses, sued Phone Directories Company in April 2007 after it published a telephone directory that Telstra claimed was a copy of its directories.
But in February, judge Michelle Gordon of the Federal Court ruled that although the directories were published works, Telstra and Sensis had failed to identify all the authors of the directories, some of which were computer-generated.
Telstra appealed against the decision, but it was upheld in December by a three-judge Federal Court panel, which found that directories businesses had no claim to copyright protection because they were factual compilations rather than compilations of original expression.
Sensis has warned that the ruling could have ramifications for owners of other data compilations, such as real estate auction results, transport timetables, TV guides and sporting and betting directories.
“Businesses . . . should expect that the hard work of their employees and their investment in technology should not take away copyright protection,” a Sensis spokesman said. “We believe it is important to consider all of the legal options available, including an appeal to the High Court.”
Scott Buchanan, a partner at DLA Phillips Fox specialising in intellectual property and technology, said the ramifications of the decision for copyright owners and users were significant.
….
Read full article here via The Australian