Columbia Pictures Industries Inc v Luckins

Columbia Pictures Industries Inc and Tri-Star Pictures Inc sued Stephen Richard Luckins for infringing their copyright in certain films by importing and selling NTSC laser discs in Australia. The dispute came before the Federal Court of Australia, where Tamberlin J was tasked with determining the appropriate damages for the copyright infringement under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The court had to decide three categories of damages: infringement damages under s115(2), conversion damages under s116(1), and additional damages under s115(4). The central issue was how to assess the loss of income resulting from the infringement and whether the "licence fee" approach or the "at large" approach was more appropriate.

Tamberlin J concluded that the "licence fee" approach was not suitable in this case, as the applicants would not have granted a licence to import NTSC laser discs. Instead, the court should estimate the loss of income arising from the sale of the infringing discs. The court found that the respondent imported NTSC laser discs from at least June 1990 to November 1993, and the loss in income due to the infringement was approximately $23,000. Conversion damages were not awarded, as the infringement damages already took into account the damage that might otherwise be granted by way of conversion damages. Finally, the court awarded additional damages of $15,000, considering the flagrancy of the infringements and the benefits accrued to the respondent.

The court ordered that the respondent pay total damages of $38,000 to the applicants and their costs of the proceeding on an indemnity basis. Tamberlin J certified that the total amount recovered was appropriate given the complexity and nature of the matter.