Viacom International, Inc v the Unplugged Cafe Pty Ltd

Viacom International, Inc. (Viacom) brought proceedings against The Unplugged Cafe Pty Ltd (Unplugged Cafe) in the Federal Court of Australia. The dispute concerned allegations of copyright infringement arising from the public performance of musical works within Unplugged Cafe. Viacom, as a copyright owner and licensor of musical works, claimed that Unplugged Cafe had played music without obtaining the necessary licenses, thereby infringing its exclusive rights.

The primary legal issue before the Federal Court was whether Unplugged Cafe had engaged in the unauthorised public performance of musical works in contravention of the *Copyright Act 1968* (Cth). This required the court to determine whether the music played at the cafe constituted a "public performance" and, if so, whether Unplugged Cafe had obtained the appropriate licences from the relevant copyright collecting societies, such as Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society Limited (AMCOS) and Australasian Performing Right Association Limited (APRA).

The Court found that the playing of music in the Unplugged Cafe constituted a public performance. It reasoned that the cafe was a place accessible to the public, and the playing of music was intended to be heard by patrons, thereby constituting a performance in public. The Court further held that Unplugged Cafe had failed to demonstrate that it held valid licences authorising the public performance of the musical works in question. Consequently, the Court concluded that Unplugged Cafe had infringed Viacom's copyright.

The Federal Court ordered that Unplugged Cafe pay damages to Viacom and granted an injunction restraining Unplugged Cafe from further infringing Viacom's copyright.