In a ruling this morning, the High Court of Australia found in favour of IceTV in its appeal over a decision that said the EPG provider was involved in copyright infringement.
The Nine Network originally alleged that IceTV was reproducing a literary work when it published a version of the programming schedule for the network. Since then the case has been playing court tennis with decisions and appeals, a lot of waiting and potentially the chance that Goliath would indeed crush David under a giant sandal.
In a brief interview via Twitter, IceTV said that this decision could possibly open up the market to new players in the EPG space but pointed out that “EPGs are still copyrightable. [The] High Court Ruling didn’t change that.”
The Court’s conclusion was brief: “Any reproduction of the time and title information in the IceGuide was not a reproduction of a substantial part of any of the Weekly Schedules (or the Nine Database).” IceTV were awarded costs.
Read the High Court’s judgement to get into the nitty gritty of the decision.
5 Comments
Lyndal McIlwaine says:
Hooray for IceTV.
I still don't understand why the Nine Network took this battle on in the first place. It seems like such a stupid and pointless battle to engage in.
Television Watcher says:
Hasn't anybody noticed that you do not have to pay $99 per year to get an electronic guide service?
Free Australian EPG services such as “www.oztivo.net” and “www.epgstream.net” let users load the TV guides into any number of computer devices.
There are many free or cheap services, but for some reason people think paying $99 per year is “normal”! Funny that …
Vzzzbx says:
I've not used IceTV, but it seems to me that you're paying <$10/mth for an accurate and detailed EPG, which is something the networks still can't get right despite all the Freeview noise.
Facebook User says:
Have no need for an EPG at this time, but just looked at IceTV and they don't have the guide for the multiple ABC / SBS / Seven digital channels yet; and also don't include community television, which IS something that Freeview will provide.
Facebook User says:
Have no need for an EPG at this time, but just looked at IceTV and they don't have the guide for the multiple ABC / SBS / Seven digital channels yet; and also don't include community television, which IS something that Freeview will provide.