ABSTRACT
The Scam Action Group infringe Hal’s copyright by making copies of the software (s 16(2)). By copying and reproducing the information in leaflets, Scam also infringe copyright under ss 17(2), 18(1) and 16(3). The street theatre would also be caught by s 18, which makes it an infringement to perform the work in public. By giving out copies of Hal’s product, it might be argued that Scam are authorising further infringement. However, in CBS Inc v Ames Records Ltd (1988), Whitford J stated that: ‘Any ordinary person would, I think, assume that an authorisation can only come from someone having or purporting to have authority and that an act is not authorised by somebody who merely enables or possibly assists or even encourages another to do that act but does not purport to have any authority which he can grant to justify the act.’
