Realestate.com.au Pty Ltd v Hardingham & Ors; RP Data Pty Limited v Hardingham & Ors

The High Court of Australia considered appeals from the Full Federal Court concerning alleged contraventions of the *Copyright Act 1968* (Cth) and the *Australian Consumer Law* (ACL). The appellants, Realestate.com.au Pty Ltd and RP Data Pty Limited, were alleged to have infringed the copyright of Mr and Mrs Hardingham by using property sales data, which included details of their former home, without authorisation. The Hardinghams claimed that their copyright in the property reports, which contained this data, had been infringed.

The central legal issues before the High Court were whether the Hardinghams held copyright in the property reports, and if so, whether the appellants had infringed that copyright by reproducing and communicating the reports to the public. Additionally, the court had to determine whether the appellants' conduct in using and disseminating the property data constituted misleading or deceptive conduct under the ACL.

The High Court found that the Hardinghams did not hold copyright in the property reports. Their Honour Kiefel CJ, with whom Gageler, Gordon, Edelman and Steward JJ agreed, reasoned that the reports were compilations of factual information, and the Hardinghams' contribution to their creation did not meet the threshold of originality required for copyright protection. The court held that the selection and arrangement of factual data, without sufficient intellectual creativity, did not constitute an original literary work. Consequently, as there was no copyright infringement, the claims under the ACL, which were predicated on the existence of copyright, also failed.

The appeals were allowed, and the orders of the Full Federal Court were set aside.