Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. v Rex Dubai LLC

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and others (the plaintiffs) brought proceedings against Rex Dubai LLC (the defendant) in the Federal Court of Australia. The dispute concerned the alleged infringement of copyright in certain films and television programs, which the plaintiffs claimed were made available to the public via the defendant's website without their authorisation. The plaintiffs sought interlocutory relief to restrain the alleged infringement.

The primary legal issue before the court was whether the plaintiffs were entitled to an interlocutory injunction to prevent the defendant from continuing to make their copyrighted works available to the public. This required the court to consider the established principles for granting interlocutory injunctions, specifically the "serious question to be tried" limb of the test, and to assess the balance of convenience between the parties.

Justice Kirov applied the well-settled principles for interlocutory relief, noting that the plaintiffs had established a strong prima facie case of copyright infringement. The court found that the plaintiffs had demonstrated a serious question to be tried regarding the defendant's alleged contravention of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). In considering the balance of convenience, the court weighed the potential harm to the plaintiffs if the injunction were not granted against the potential harm to the defendant if it were. The court concluded that the balance of convenience favoured granting the injunction, given the significant commercial value of the plaintiffs' intellectual property and the potential for ongoing and irreparable damage to their rights.

The court ordered that the defendant, its servants and agents be restrained from infringing the copyright of the plaintiffs in the specified films and television programs by making them available to the public via its website, pending the final determination of the proceedings.