Brown v Wingecarribee Shire Council [2020] NSWCATAD 102

Brown v Wingecarribee Shire Council [2020] NSWCATAD 102

The Giles Report was an original unpublished literary work and the Anderson Report was an original unpublished artistic and literary work in which copyright subsisted. Providing physical or electronic copies would reproduce the reports in a material form, an act reserved to the copyright owners, and the Council was neither owner nor licensee. The identified fair dealing provisions were not engaged by the applicant's purpose of using the reports in legal proceedings which had not yet been commenced. Accordingly, s 72(2)(c) of the GIPA Act justified refusal to provide copies, and the correct and preferable decision was access by inspection only.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
09 April 2020
Procedural Posture
Administrative Review of a Government Information Access Decision Under the Government Information (public Access) Act 2009 (nsw) / On the Papers; Review of Council's Internal Review Decision
Outcome
The decision under review is affirmed.
Legal Topics
['form of Access to Government Information' 'whether Providing Physical or Electronic Copies Would Infringe Copyright' 'original Literary and Artistic Works' 'fair Dealing Provisions']
['administrative Law' 'government Information' 'copyright'] ['form of Access to Government Information' 'whether Providing Physical or Electronic Copies Would Infringe Copyright' 'original Literary and Artistic Works' 'fair Dealing Provisions']

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Procedural Posture

Administrative Review of a Government Information Access Decision Under the Government Information (public Access) Act 2009 (nsw) / On the Papers; Review of Council's Internal Review Decision

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether there is copyright in the Giles Report and the Anderson Report.' 'Whether providing physical or electronic copies of those reports to the applicant would involve an infringement of copyright.' 'Whether the correct and preferable decision was to provide access by inspection only.']

Ratio Decidendi

The Giles Report was an original unpublished literary work and the Anderson Report was an original unpublished artistic and literary work in which copyright subsisted. Providing physical or electronic copies would reproduce the reports in a material form, an act reserved to the copyright owners, and the Council was neither owner nor licensee. The identified fair dealing provisions were not engaged by the applicant's purpose of using the reports in legal proceedings which had not yet been commenced. Accordingly, s 72(2)(c) of the GIPA Act justified refusal to provide copies, and the correct and preferable decision was access by inspection only.

Court Disposition

The decision under review is affirmed.

Orders

  • ['The decision under review is affirmed.']