JWR Productions Australia Pty Ltd v Duncan-Watt (No 2) [2020] FCA 236

JWR Productions Australia Pty Ltd v Duncan-Watt (No 2) [2020] FCA 236

Of several claimed defamatory imputations, only one (that Rockefeller lied in claiming sole authorship/creation of 'That Golden Girls Show!' when, in truth, he used a script largely written by Duncan-Watt and failed to acknowledge contributions) was conveyed and was found to be true: Gooding's justification and contextual truth defences succeeded, and the claim failed. The misleading or deceptive conduct claims failed, as the conduct in question was not found to be in trade or commerce or not misleading in the identified way. The copyright claims failed because of express or implied licences or insufficient evidence of infringement. The detinue claim failed because there was no...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
05 March 2020
Procedural Posture
Civil / Final Trial Judgment
Outcome
All proceedings dismissed
Legal Topics
['defamation—hybrid Publication' 'facebook Post' 'copyright Infringement' 'joint Authorship' 'contractual Construction' 'detinue' 'misleading or Deceptive Conduct' 'contextual Truth' 'justification' 'licence Agreement' 'acl S 18' 'injunctive Relief' 'costs']
['defamation' 'intellectual Property' 'tort' 'consumer Law'] ['defamation—hybrid Publication' 'facebook Post' 'copyright Infringement' 'joint Authorship' 'contractual Construction' 'detinue' 'misleading or Deceptive Conduct' 'contextual Truth' 'justification' 'licence Agreement' 'acl S 18' 'injunctive Relief' 'costs']

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 1 Authorities cited 2 Party arguments 2 Amounts and remedies 1
Sign in to unlock

Procedural Posture

Civil / Final Trial Judgment

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the Facebook Post and linked New York Times Article conveyed defamatory imputations about Jonathan Rockefeller;' 'If so, whether any defences (justification, contextual truth, honest opinion, publication of public documents) were established;' 'Whether various conduct constituted misleading or deceptive conduct under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) Sch 2, ACL;' 'Whether the website content concerning No. 5½ was misleading;' 'Whether there was copyright infringement in photographs posted online;' 'Whether detinue was established regarding certain documents/scripts']

Ratio Decidendi

Of several claimed defamatory imputations, only one (that Rockefeller lied in claiming sole authorship/creation of 'That Golden Girls Show!' when, in truth, he used a script largely written by Duncan-Watt and failed to acknowledge contributions) was conveyed and was found to be true: Gooding's justification and contextual truth defences succeeded, and the claim failed. The misleading or deceptive conduct claims failed, as the conduct in question was not found to be in trade or commerce or not misleading in the identified way. The copyright claims failed because of express or implied licences or insufficient evidence of infringement. The detinue claim failed because there was no...

Court Disposition

All proceedings dismissed

Orders

  • ['NSD 266 of 2017 and NSD 327 of 2017 dismissed.' "Unless any party applies within 7 days for a different order with respect to costs, applicants to pay the respondents' costs." 'Any application for costs to comply with specified written submissions and evidence timetable.' 'Absent contrary order, any application...