Telstra Corporation Ltd v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd (2003) 57 IPR 453
Property law; intellectual property; copyright; idea not subject to copyright.
Facts: In the 1990s Telstra Corporation Ltd (Telstra) produced a television advertisement featuring a character known as Mr Goggomobil, the owner of a rare kind of car. The advertisement showed Mr Goggomobile using the Yellow Pages (a Telstra product) to telephone various suppliers in search of parts he needed to repair his car. In 2002, a car insurer owned by Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance made a television advertisement featuring Mr Goggomobil - the same character, played by the same actor. The advertisement showed him using the telephone to call various insurers, looking for one who will insure his unique car. Telstra sued Sun Alliance Insurance for copyright infringement.
Issue: Had Sun Alliance Insurance infringed Telstra's copyright in the original advertisement by reproducing it in a material form?
Decision: Sun Alliance Insurance had not infringed Telstra's copyright.
Reason: The advertisements had some common concepts or themes, including the character Mr Goggomobil, the distinctive Goggomobil car, the use of the telephone, and the use of humour. However, the scripts for the two advertisements were very different, as were the films themselves. Merkel J said (at 466 - 7):
"As copyright does not protect ideas or concepts, but only the form in which they are expressed, it is not sufficient for Telstra to establish that…[Sun Alliance Insurance] reproduced the ideas, concepts or themes embodied in the first Goggomobil advertisement… The copying that has occurred relates more to the concept or theme employed in relation to the Goggomobil than to the expression of that concept or theme."