The Need for Human Authorship-Australian Developments: Telstra Corp Ltd v Phone Directories Co Pty Ltd

摘要

The recent decision of the Full Federal Court of Australia in Telstra Corp Ltd v Phone Directories Co Pty Ltd' has confirmed that, in the case of original literary works, it is necessary for a successful plaintiff to identify the specific works for which protection is claimed, and the human authors of those works. In this proceeding, the works in suit were white and yellow pages telephone directories, and protection was denied on the basis that their compilation and production was almost entirely automated, with any human contribution being either too anterior or too incidental or ministerial in nature (editorial changes and corrections, and the like). Special leave to appeal this decision to the High Court of Australia was refused, meaning that the decision of the Full Federal Court on the need for human authorship must be taken as the authoritative statement of the Australian law on this issue.