Is Streaming a Broadcast? Federal Court hands down decision in Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Ltd v Commercial Radio Australia Limited

17 February 2012:  The Federal Court has handed down another decision which grapples with broadcasting in the Digital Age, in particular the question ‘is streaming a broadcast?’.  Justice Foster dismissed PPCA’s claim for the payment of additional royalties for the streaming of PPCA sound recordings as part of radio programs.  His Honour said: “the simulcast transmission of the same radio program via the FM waves and the Internet is also a “broadcast” within the current definition of that term in s 10(1) of the Copyright Act and, for that reason, is within the scope of the licence which PPCA agreed to grant to the members of CRA”.

Full story here.  Full text of decision here.



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