The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia has published its decision in Australian News Channel Pty Ltd v Isentia Pty Limited [2025] FCAFC 49 (Cheeseman, Jackman and Owens JJ), dismissing an appeal concerning the scope of s 183(1) of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (Copyright Act). In its reasons, delivered on 10 April 2025, the Full Court described the issue on appeal as the “scope of the permission” granted to the Commonwealth and States and those authorised by them “to use copyright material subject to the payment of compensation”.
The appeal had been brought by the Australian News Channel (the parent company of Sky News) following the judgment at first instance, which found that Isentia’s media monitoring of Sky News broadcast and online news content for certain government clients – as outlined in agreed facts – did not infringe copyright but rather fell within the scope of s 183 of the Copyright Act.
The Full Court held at [32] that the scope of the s 183(1) defence “was intended to confer a broad permission to use copyright material, for any purposes of the Crown, subject to an obligation to pay reasonable compensation”. The scheme was described at [47] as “defining, rather than abrogating, the rights of copyright owners against the Crown”. The Full Court concluded that the trial judge was correct to conclude that s 183(1) of the Act has a “broad and facilitative purpose”.
Danielle Forrester of Banco Chambers appeared for Isentia, led by Tony Bannon SC. They were instructed by Clayton Utz.