Asia Television Ltd v Yau's Entertainment Pty Ltd (No 2)

Asia Television Limited filed a claim against Yau's Entertainment Pty Ltd in the Federal Court of Australia, seeking an injunction to restrain Yau's Entertainment from broadcasting certain television programs. The nature of the dispute centred around the alleged infringement of copyright by Yau's Entertainment, which had broadcast programs that Asia Television claimed were protected by copyright. The Court was required to determine whether the broadcasts indeed constituted copyright infringement and if so, whether an injunction was the appropriate remedy.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether Yau's Entertainment's broadcasting of the television programs constituted a copyright infringement under the Copyright Act 1968. Asia Television argued that the broadcasts amounted to a reproduction in substance of their protected works. Conversely, Yau's Entertainment contended that the broadcasts were fair dealing under the Act. The Court had to assess the nature of the broadcasts and the extent to which they replicated Asia Television's works.

In its judgment, the Court found that the broadcasts by Yau's Entertainment did indeed constitute a reproduction in substance of Asia Television's works, thus amounting to copyright infringement. The Court was persuaded that the broadcasts were not fair dealing as they exceeded what was necessary for the purposes of criticism or review. Consequently, the Court determined that an injunction was appropriate to prevent further infringements. The proceedings were stood over to allow Asia Television to provide short minutes of order to formalise the injunction.