Singleton family agree to judgment in favour of Nine in landmark court battle
Had the NSW Supreme Court case proceeded to a hearing, the decision would have had implications for all Australian media outlets. The litigation was expected to involve a fight over the scope of a fair dealing exception in copyright laws, which allows images and video to be used for 'the reporting of news'.
Singleton's fiance, NSW police officer Ashley Wildey, and her mother, Julie Singleton, filed the lawsuit in April before Nine's 60 Minutes aired an interview with her father, former adman John Singleton.
Their claim was later expanded to include the publishing companies behind Nine-owned newspapers including the Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review.
Shortly before the trial, which was expected to run for two days from Tuesday, the parties agreed to orders entering judgment in favour of the Nine entities. The Supreme Court made the orders on Monday afternoon. The parties will bear their own legal costs.
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The copyright claim centred on Nine's use of two videos and five photos from Dawn Singleton's public social media accounts.
Wildey and Julie Singleton had asked the court to make a declaration that the Nine outlets had infringed their copyright in the videos and photos, an order permanently restraining them from using the films and images, and damages.
In a written defence filed in court, the Nine entities admitted that 'there exists a practice within the Australian media of sourcing photos … and videos … from publicly available social media pages and using those photos and videos for the purpose of, or associated with, the reporting of news'.
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