THE ADMISSIBILITY OF THE EMAILS AGAINST THE GLOBAL AND IMPACT PARTIES
28 We dealt extensively in the Reasons at [171] to [247] with the admissibility of certain emails as against the Global and Impact parties and the effect on the findings by the primary judge. In the Reasons, the Court came to conclusions as to the use that could be made of what Aristocrat now describes as "the impugned emails". We concluded that the evidence in the emails could show nothing more than a tendency on the part of Global and Impact to engage in infringing transactions and that s 97 of the Evidence Act had not been complied with (at [243]-[244]).
29 Aristocrat submits that as a matter of procedural fairness the Court ought to receive further submissions as to the application of s 97 of the Evidence Act to reject the admissibility of the emails as against the Global and Impact parties on the following bases:
There was no ground of appeal that relied on s 97.
There was no ground of appeal that the primary judge erred in relying on any email against a party in circumstances where it was already admitted against that party.
It was not until the Reasons were delivered that there was any indication that s 97 would preclude reliance on any email already in evidence against Global or Impact for the purpose of establishing any knowledge or belief or state of mind of Global or Impact which might be relevant to whether either of them 'knew or ought reasonably to have known' that the relevant transactions involved machines which infringe Aristocrat's copyright.
If it had been "squarely raised", Aristocrat would have submitted that conclusions as to Global's and Impact's awareness or state of mind about its own business were not precluded by s 97 of the Evidence Act. In other words, Aristocrat says that it would have put to the Court submissions as to alternative uses of the emails and alternative bases for the factual findings necessary for its case under s 38 of the Copyright Act.
If it had been "squarely raised", Aristocrat would have submitted that s 97 of the Evidence Act has no application in the determination of the s 38 of the Copyright Act question because whether a person knew or ought reasonably to have known that the machines were infringing is not susceptible to being described as 'a tendency … to have a particular state of mind' within s 97(1) of the Evidence Act. Further, even if it were susceptible to being so described, Aristocrat says that s 97 could not apply because of s 94(3)(b) of the Evidence Act, as the s 38 question of whether a person 'knew or ought reasonably to have known' that the machines were infringing would be a fact in issue in the proceeding.
Aristocrat would have submitted that s 97 of the Evidence Act does not prevent the adducing of evidence of a person's tendency to engage in conduct in order to establish another person's knowledge or belief as to that tendency where that knowledge or belief is relevant to a fact in issue, relying on R v Preston (unreported, NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, Handley JA, Smart and Dunford JJ, 9 April 1997); Kaifoto v R [2006] NSWCCA 186. As Global's and Impact's knowledge or belief was a relevant issue in the case, s 97 would not apply, either because there is no tendency purpose or because of s 94(3)(b). Aristocrat points out that Mr Andrews and Mr Cragen of the Global/Impact parties put in issue their state of mind in relation to the whole of their business dealings in relation to machines generally, not just by reference to these transactions.
30 The response of the Global/Impact parties and Mr Allam and Tonita to Aristocrat's submissions are straightforward. They say that there is no application before the Court to reopen the appeal or to stay the judgment. They also point out that there is no order of the Court permitting further submissions generally; the only submissions permitted were those in respect of the orders to be made giving effect to the Reasons. The appellants say that they do not propose to respond to the Aristocrat submissions without first hearing from the Court.
31 Aristocrat complains that the question of the admissibility of the emails and the application of s 97 of the Evidence Act was not a matter that it was able to address in the appeal as it was a matter raised during the hearing of the appeal. The appeal was heard over a period of eight days separated by some months. The appeal commenced on 9 August 2010 and continued to 13 August 2010, and then recommenced on 6 December 2010 and concluded on 8 December 2010. The issue of tendency evidence and s 97 of the Evidence Act was raised on 10, 11 and 12 August 2010 (see T 107.35, 121.7, 226.24, 238.16, 296.38 and 303.11). To the extent that Aristocrat felt unable to respond to the Court on the admissibility of the emails during the course of the appeal in August 2010, it had the opportunity to seek to address the issue during the continuance of the appeal in December 2010 or even by written submissions after the appeal was heard. It did not do so.
32 Aristocrat seems to have misunderstood the relevance of s 97 of the Evidence Act. The primary judge necessarily had to connect the particularised infringing transactions with the joint venture. The emails themselves did not relate to the particularised infringing transactions. The only way to make the connection was to 'draw the inference from the contents of the emails that the respondents had the tendency to act in a particular way, that is, engage in the alleged infringing transactions' at [241] of the Reasons (cf R v Preston and R v Kaifoto where the evidence was not tendered to prove a tendency but to prove a state of mind at a particular time, the time of the offence).
33 Section 94(3) of the Evidence Act does not preclude the application of s 97. A "fact in issue", for the purposes of s 94(3), should be understood to mean "ultimate fact in issue": see the commentary in Odgers S, Uniform Evidence Law (9th ed, Thomson Reuters, 2010) at [1.3.4460] and in Australian Law Reform Commission, Uniform Evidence Law, Report No 102 (2005) at 307-311.
34 Aristocrat submits that the issue of fact is whether Global or Impact knew, or through Mr Andrews or otherwise knew or ought reasonably to have known, that the machines were infringing. Aristocrat submits that it is not susceptible of being described as 'a tendency ... to have a particular state of mind" within s 97(1) of the Evidence Act. However, other than by reason of this tendency, to support by inference the necessary findings of fact, Aristocrat failed to provide a link between the content of the emails and the particularised infringing transactions.
35 As set out in the Reasons, the steps to be taken from the emails to the ultimate conclusion was that the emails demonstrated a tendency on the part of the Global/Impact parties to participate in infringing transactions, leading to the inference that they did engage in particularised transactions. That is, the contents of the emails were used to demonstrate a connection between the particularised infringing transactions and the joint venture.
36 It follows from the Reasons that the ultimate fact was the relevant participation of the Global/Impact parties in the particular transactions. The emails did not relate to those transactions. Reliance on tendency evidence relating to different transactions imported the requirements of s 97 of the Evidence Act. Without reliance on tendency evidence, the primary judge could not have concluded as he did in finding the relevant participation in the particular transactions.