Sky Television have settled with Fairfax New Zealand and free-to-air broadcaster MediaWorks Investments after a copyright dispute over rugby footage reached the New Zealand High Court.
The case was expected to clear up some uncertainty over what the NZ Copyright Act means for sports broadcast rights, but some doubt still remains while the legal challenge remains open.
Sky settled with Fairfax and MediaWorks after claiming in 2016 that they breached the Copyright Act when they broadcast rugby videos owned by Sky in their sports reporting, but state-owned Television New Zealand and publisher NZME have yet to reach a settlement in the same case.
The secretive agreement was made before Christmas and it is unclear if any money was exchanged.
Things are made more complicated by the up-coming (and long-awaited) review of the Copyright Act, which could undo any legal precedent that that is set by this case.
The NZ Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is due to release an “issues paper” for public consultation early this year, and it published the terms of reference for a review of the law in December, saying copyright had to strike a balance.
