7.1 The construction issue
101 CAL and the intervening parties contended that the Tribunal's orders involved the Tribunal acting in excess of its power under s 157(6B) of the Copyright Act or otherwise legally unreasonably because its orders result in a licence beyond the scope of CAL's own authority from its publisher members to grant.
102 Section 157(6B)(a) and (b) respectively empower the Tribunal, if satisfied that a claim of an applicant under s 157(2) or (3) is well-founded, to "make an order specifying, in respect of the matters specified in the order, the charges, if any, and the conditions, that the Tribunal considers reasonable in the circumstances in relation to the applicant" or "order that the applicant be granted a licence in the terms proposed by the applicant, the licensor concerned or another party to the application". Sections 157(6B)(a) and (b) operate disjunctively.
103 On 25 October 2021 the Tribunal made orders as follows in respect of each of Isentia and Meltwater as applicants:
1 The Applicant is granted a licence in the terms set out in Annexure A to these Orders and the Tribunal so specifies under section 157(6B)(a) of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) as to the charges and conditions recited in Annexure A.
2 The commencement date of the licence, as specified in Order 1 of these orders, is 15 October 2021, being the date of publication of the decision of the Tribunal in the proceeding.
104 Annexure A to each order is a "Press Monitoring and Online Monitoring Licence" between Isentia or Meltwater (as the case may be) and CAL.
105 Notwithstanding how the Tribunal's orders of 25 October 2021 were framed, it should not be assumed that in its orders the Tribunal was not making an order specifying that the MMOs be granted a licence under s 157(6B)(a).
106 The Tribunal's power under s 157(6B)(b) is confined to the making of an order that the applicant be granted a licence on terms proposed, in effect, by a party to the application. That is, for s 157(6B)(b) to be engaged, the Tribunal must accept the whole of any licence proposed by a party. If the Tribunal concludes that it is not appropriate to order the grant of a licence on the precise terms proposed by any party, the Tribunal (if otherwise satisfied the claim of the applicant is well-founded) is necessarily acting under s 157(6B)(a). The fact that s 157(6B)(a) does not refer to the Tribunal ordering the grant of a licence (as in s 157(6B)(b)) does not mean that under s 157(6B)(a) the Tribunal is not able to specify in the order that the applicant be granted a licence. That capacity is within the scope of the words "in respect of the matters specified in the order".
107 The matter the Tribunal specified in the order of 25 October 2021, in terms, was that each MMO "is granted a licence in the terms set out in Annexure A to these Orders". The words in the orders relating to each MMO "and the Tribunal so specifies under section 157(6B)(a) of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) as to the charges and conditions recited in Annexure A" reflect the fact that s 157(6B)(a) requires the Tribunal to specify the charges and conditions the Tribunal considers reasonable in the circumstances in relation to the applicant "in respect of the matters specified in the order". The matter specified in the order remains the grant of a licence.
108 It follows that to the extent the parties to this appeal proceeded on the assumption that the MMOs have not been granted a licence as a result of the Tribunal's orders because the Tribunal acted under s 157(6B)(a) and not s 157(6B)(b), they are mistaken. The licence is a licence granted by the Tribunal and not by CAL as the licensor. But it is, in terms and effect, a licence.
109 This conclusion is not affected by s 159(4) which provides as follows:
(4) Where the Tribunal has made an order on an application under subsection 157(1), (2) or (3) specifying charges, if any, and conditions, in relation to the applicant, in respect of the matters specified in the order, then if:
(a) the applicant has complied with the conditions specified in the order; and
(b) in a case where the order specifies any charges - he or she has paid those charges to the licensor or, if the amount payable could not be ascertained, has given to the licensor an undertaking in writing to pay the charges when ascertained;
the applicant shall be in the like position, in any proceedings for infringement of copyright relating to any of those matters, as if he or she had at all material times been the holder of a licence granted by the owner of the copyright concerned on the conditions, and subject to payment of the charges (if any), specified in the order.
110 Section 159(4) refers to "the matters specified in the order". As discussed, the matters specified in the order can include the grant of a licence by the Tribunal either under s 157(6B)(b) (in terms proposed by a party) or s 157(6B)(a) (specifying charges, if any, and conditions, in relation to the applicant as determined by the Tribunal). The deeming provision (as if he or she had at all material times been the holder of a licence granted by the owner of the copyright concerned on the conditions, and subject to payment of the charges (if any), specified in the order) is necessary because any licence granted under s 157(6B)(a) or (b) is a licence granted by the Tribunal, and not by the licensor. The deeming provision operates so that such a licence is taken to be a licence granted by the owner of the copyright on the conditions, and subject to payment of the charges (if any), specified in the order. This ensures that there is no infringement under s 36(1), which depends on an act comprised in the copyright being done by "a person who, not being the owner of the copyright, and without the licence of the owner of the copyright" (emphasis added) does the act.
111 CAL submitted that as "licence" is defined in s 136(1) to mean "a licence granted by or on behalf of the owner or prospective owner of the copyright … to do an act comprised in the copyright" it must follow that the Tribunal's power under s 157(6B) is confined by the extent of the authority, permission or power conferred on the licensor by the owners of copyright to grant licences of acts comprised in that copyright. According to CAL, the Tribunal accepted this at R1 [146], [159] and [165].
112 One overarching observation which should be made immediately is that it does not particularly matter what the Tribunal said in R1 in answer to the separate questions. It is possible to get mired in the detail of the Tribunal's reasoning in R1 for little, if any, purpose. What matters is what the Tribunal did as a result of its reasons in R2. This is particularly important in the present case. The Tribunal's reasons in R1, reflecting the separate questions and submissions put to it by the parties, are not readily relatable to the reasons and outcomes in R2. The parties agreed facts for the purposes of R1, presumably for the purpose of ensuring that the separate questions did not involve the Tribunal in the giving of a mere advisory opinion. That does not mean that the Tribunal was bound by those agreed facts when it came to R2, by which time the parties had the opportunity to put before the Tribunal all of the relevant evidence. There is no reference to the statement of agreed facts in R2. Further, when it came to it, the Tribunal's approach in R2 about CAL's "mandate" involved a process of reasoning different from that in R1 (in particular, at R2 [858]-[862]). CAL complains about this different reasoning, but its arguments in that regard are not assisted by reference to either R1 or the agreed facts for the purpose of R1 on which the Tribunal did not rely for R2. Nor could CAL prevent the Tribunal from examining the underlying documents for itself to determine the legal relationship between CAL and CopyCo and CAL and other publishers. Having undertaken the detailed consideration it did in R2, it is not the case that the Tribunal could not have concluded as it did but for the reasoning in R1.
113 The focus of CAL and the intervening parties on R1 merely exposes another example of why the determination of separate questions on a basis which appears sound and sensible to all involved at the time might ultimately lack utility. It also exposes that the MMOs' contentions that the application is out of time or has been the subject of unreasonable delay cannot go very far, because R1 is of such marginal relevance to what ultimately occurred in R2. The MMOs cannot have it both ways - that is, they cannot both correctly marginalise the relevance of R1 yet complain that CAL is too late to complain about R2 to the extent it depended on R1. The reality is that R1 ultimately did not matter when the Tribunal came to determine R2.
114 In any event, it is clear from R1 (for example, at [127]-[132]) that the MMOs never accepted the concept of CAL having a "limited mandate" as it proposed as their argument was that: (a) they had each claimed that they required a licence from CAL, being "a licence granted by or on behalf of the owner or prospective owner of the copyright … to do an act comprised in the copyright" as provided for in the definition of "licence" in s 136(1), (b) CAL had proposed a licence (as defined) subject to the payment of charges, or to conditions, that were unreasonable as referred to in s 157(3)(b), and (c) having been satisfied that their claims were well-founded, the Tribunal was empowered under s 157(6B)(a) to make an order specifying "the charges, if any, and the conditions, that the Tribunal considers reasonable in the circumstances in relation to the applicant" and under s 157(6B)(b) to order that the applicant be granted a licence in the terms proposed by the applicant. That is, so far as the MMOs were concerned in R2, the agreed facts for R1 were immaterial to their case. As explained below, the position of the MMOs correctly reflects the statutory provisions.
115 It follows that we do not agree with the intervening parties that the MMOs "conceded" that CAL did not have the authority of the copyright owners to grant a licence to do the things proposed. In R1 at [165] the Tribunal recorded that the MMOs accepted in the agreed facts that CAL did not have the authority of the owners of the copyright to grant the MMOs the right to do certain acts. Those acts included the Excluded Works Term (relating to the withdrawal of publications from the scope of the licence during its term). As discussed, the agreed facts were prepared for the purposes of R1 to (try to) ensure that the Tribunal was not engaged in a hypothetical advisory function. Even in R1, the MMOs' position was that CAL's limited mandate proposition was misconceived in terms of the statutory scheme. By the time of R2, the parties had filed all evidence. There is no factual foundation which has been drawn to our attention suggesting that the parties' cases in R2 proceeded on the basis of any concession by the MMOs for the purpose of R1. In any event, the MMOs' construction of the statute is correct and the agreed facts are immaterial to that exercise.
116 Accordingly, nothing is to be gained by searching for inconsistencies between R1 and R2. The fact that the Tribunal's thinking about issues developed and changed between R1 (published on 15 July 2020 on the basis of some agreed facts) and R2 (published on 15 October 2021 after a lengthy hearing, extensive evidence and without apparent reference to the agreed facts for the purposes of R1) is unsurprising. In these circumstances, the appropriate course is to construe the statute and then to examine each provision of the licences ordered by the Tribunal to which CAL objects and determine whether any provision might involve an excess of power or legal unreasonableness by the Tribunal.
117 The fact that the parties wrongly assume that the Tribunal's orders of 25 October 2021, because they were made under s 157(6B)(a) and not s 157(6B)(b), do not involve the grant of a licence by the Tribunal informs the error in CAL's approach to the construction of the statutory provisions. Once it is appreciated that it is the Tribunal, not CAL, granting the licence under s 157(6B)(a), it is not at all difficult to accept that the power of the Tribunal to do so subject to the charges and conditions that the Tribunal (not CAL) considers reasonable is not constrained by the charges and conditions which the owners/members of CAL required CAL itself to impose on any licence CAL grants.
118 It is important to understand that CAL's "mandate" argument is premised on the fact that the agreements between CopyCo and it and owners/members of it include a provision to the effect that CAL must submit to CopyCo for approval terms of all pro-forma licences under which it proposes to license the rights, such approval not to be unreasonably withheld: see cl 5.1 of the CopyCo and CAL agreement. This is the anchor for CAL's position that the only licence CAL was authorised to grant is a licence on terms approved by CopyCo (or publishers if not members of CopyCo). By this anchor, CAL sought before the Tribunal (and seeks before us) to argue that the only licence the Tribunal was authorised to grant is a licence in the form CAL had approval from CopyCo (and publishers if not members of CopyCo) to grant, being the various alternative CAL licences the Tribunal rejected as unreasonable.
119 This proposition barely needs articulating before it is apparent that the legal effect of CAL's submissions is that a licensor and its owners/members can stymie the Tribunal from exercising power in terms of s 157(6B)(a) or (b) by the simple expedient of confining the so-called "mandate" of the licensor at any time during the hearing before the Tribunal or, indeed, after it publishes reasons and before it makes an order under s 157(6B)(a) or (b). This explains why Isentia is right when it says that:
…taking the "mandate" concept to its logical extreme, CA could subvert the Tribunal's jurisdiction altogether by seeking an instruction from copyright owners that they license rights only on particular terms and conditions, such that any variation by the Tribunal (even adjusting the price by as little as $1) would exceed the "mandate". That is not a workable approach; it is not how s 157(3) and (6B) and s 159(4) operate on a proper construction.
120 As explained further below, and contrary to the arguments of CAL and the intervening parties, the relevant distinction is between:
(1) the claim of an applicant under s 157(3) (that a licensor such as CAL has refused or failed to grant the licence, or to procure the grant of the licence that the person requires, or has proposed that such a licence should be granted subject to the payment of charges, or to conditions, that are unreasonable) that engages the Tribunal's jurisdiction; and
(2) the Tribunal being satisfied that this claim is well-founded - in which event, under s 157(6B) the Tribunal may "make an order specifying, in respect of the matters specified in the order, the charges, if any, and the conditions, that the Tribunal considers reasonable in the circumstances in relation to the applicant" (s 157(6B)(a)) or "order that the applicant be granted a licence in the terms proposed by the applicant, the licensor concerned or another party to the application" (s 157(6B)(b)).
121 In this statutory scheme, the idea that the Tribunal cannot grant a licence on conditions different from those on which CAL is empowered by its owners/members to grant a licence is misconceived. Attempting to characterise those conditions on CAL's power as affecting CAL's "mandate" or "authority" or "power" to grant a licence is also misconceived. The only question that arises in respect of the Tribunal's jurisdiction is the making of the relevant claim as described above. The question is - when can a person claim that a licensor has refused or failed to grant the licence, or to procure the grant of the licence the person requires, or has proposed that such a licence should be granted subject to the payment of charges, or to conditions, that are unreasonable?
122 As explained further below, while the extension of s 157(3) to a licensor's failure to "procure" the grant of a licence at all or on reasonable conditions might be construed as encompassing any refusal or failure by a licensor to procure such a licence from any person, be it a member of the licensor or not, or be it in respect of a copyright work of a member the licensor may or may not license, that construction would be inconsistent with the text and context of the legislation.
123 The text and context of the legislation disclose that a licensor may refuse or fail to grant or may refuse to procure the grant of the required licence (at all or on reasonable conditions) if the licensor has the capacity to grant a licence for the act comprised in the copyright of the copyright work. If the licensor may do so, even if it may do so only on certain charges and conditions, the existence of that capacity is sufficient to engage the potential operation of s 157(3). A person may then make a claim within the scope of s 157(3). The charges and conditions on which the licensor is authorised by its owners/members to grant the licence do not affect the capacity of the person to claim that the charges and conditions are unreasonable and do not affect the capacity of the Tribunal to impose different charges and conditions.
124 The fallacy in the arguments of CAL and the intervening parties are readily exposed. Assume an owner/member of CAL authorises CAL to grant a licence over all acts comprised in the copyright in a copyright work but in the authorisation prescribes that CAL may not grant such a licence for less than a specified charge per year. If CAL and the intervening parties are right, that specified charge confines CAL's "mandate" or "power" or "authority" to grant a licence. On their argument, the Tribunal could not grant a licence on the basis of any lesser charge. That cannot be right.
125 What this exposes is the difference between a licensor's capacity to grant any licence at all for an act comprised in the copyright of a copyright work (irrespective of the charges and conditions which the owner/member imposes on CAL and which binds CAL) and the licensor not having any capacity to grant any licence at all for an act comprised in the copyright of a copyright work. In the former case, a claim within s 157(3) may be made and the Tribunal has power under s 157(6B) unconstrained by the conditions on CAL's power. In the latter case, a claim within s 157(3) may not be made.
126 This construction of ss 157(3) and (6B) reflects the text and context of the statutory scheme. It is also consistent with other authority concerning ss 157(1) and (2). The basic proposition is this - a member/owner of a licensor cannot take the benefit of the potential for collective licensing by enabling a licensor to grant a licence of an act comprised in the copyright of a copyright work and avoid the operation of ss 157(3) and (6B) by confining the "mandate" of the licensor to grant the licence only on certain charges and conditions. These limitations on the "mandate" of the licensor to grant the licence will bind the licensor but cannot bind the Tribunal. Having chosen to enable a licensor to grant a licence of an act comprised in the copyright to a copyright work and to take the potential benefit of collective licensing, the owner/member cannot escape the power of the Tribunal to decide on a licence being granted subject to charges and conditions different from those the owner/member imposed on the licensor.
127 To explain further, the definition of "licence" in s 136(1) is "a licence granted by or on behalf of the owner or prospective owner of the copyright in a work". The "owner" is not defined for the purposes of Pt VI of the Copyright Act which concerns the Tribunal and its powers (it is defined in s 134B, but only for the purposes of Div 7 of Pt V). The "licensor" as defined in s 136(1) is not the "owner" of the copyright. The definition of "licensor" contemplates that an owner of the copyright will be entitled to be a member of the "licensor". That does not make the "licensor" the owner of the copyright.
128 It may be accepted that under s 157(3), the pre-conditions to the making of an application by a person claiming they require a licence in a case where a licence scheme does not apply involve the conduct only of the "licensor" (as defined in s 136(1)) and not the owner of the copyright works.
129 Section 157(7) is also relevant as it provides that:
A reference in this section to a failure to grant a licence, or to procure the grant of a licence, shall be read as a reference to a failure to grant the licence, or to procure the grant of the licence, as the case may be, within a reasonable time after a request to do so.
130 As noted, the concept of the licensor refusing or failing to grant or procure the grant of a licence including a licence on conditions that are claimed by the person requiring the licence to be unreasonable involves a capacity of the licensor to grant or procure the grant of such a licence. Given the definition of "licensor" (which includes that this body must have a constitution which "entitles any owner of copyright, or any owner of copyright of a specified kind, to become a member of the body" (s 136(b)(i)), "provides that the main business of the body is granting licences" (s 136(b)(iii)), and "requires the body to distribute to its members the proceeds (after deduction of the body's administrative expenses) from payments to the body for licences" (s 136(b)(iv))), it is apparent that the relevant capacity of the licensor is the capacity to grant a licence in respect of an act comprised in the copyright of one of its members.
131 On this basis, the concept of the licensor refusing or failing to grant or procure the grant of the required licence would not extend to a licence where the licensor is in no different position from any other person. That is, the concept would not extend to the licensor refusing or failing to grant or procure the grant of a licence in respect of an act comprised in the copyright of a copyright work of a member where the licensor had not been granted any authority by the member to grant a licence for that act over that copyright work or in respect of any copyright work of a non-member. The licensor could not refuse or fail to grant or procure the grant of any such licence. But it can refuse or fail to grant or procure the grant of a licence (including on charges and conditions the person accepts to be reasonable) from one of its owners/members where the licensor is able to grant some kind of licence for the relevant act in respect of the relevant work. Once that is the position, a person can make a claim under s 157(3) and all of the Tribunal's powers in s 157(6B) are engaged. The limits, if any, on the licensor's power as imposed by the owner/member are mere charges and conditions within the power of the Tribunal to determine for itself.
132 If it were otherwise and the approach of CAL and the intervening parties were to be accepted then:
(1) the concept of the refusal or failure to grant or to procure the grant of a licence by a licensor would be otiose;
(2) the concept of the refusal or failure to grant or to procure the grant of a licence subject to conditions that are unreasonable would be otiose;
(3) the concept of the Tribunal being able to make an order in respect of the matters specified in the order the charges and conditions that the Tribunal considers reasonable in the circumstances in relation to the applicant would be otiose;
(4) the concept of the Tribunal ordering that the applicant be granted a licence in the terms proposed by the applicant or a party to the application other than the licensor would be otiose; and
(5) a licensor and/or the owners/members of the licensor, at any time, could set the power of the Tribunal at naught by the simple expedient of imposing conditions on the licensor's power to license in the same terms as the licence provisions which the licensor and/or the owners/members of the licensor wish.
133 CAL and the intervening parties relied on the reasoning in PPCA to support their arguments. PPCA supports the construction we propose. PPCA concerned the operation of a licence scheme. A "licence scheme" is defined in s 136(1) to mean a scheme:
formulated by a licensor or licensors and setting out the classes of cases in which the licensor or each of the licensors is willing, or the persons on whose behalf the licensor or each of the licensors acts are willing, to grant licences and the charges (if any) subject to payment of which, and the conditions subject to which, licences would be granted in those classes of cases.
134 Section 137 regulates the cases to which a licence scheme applies. By s 154(1), where a licensor proposes to bring a licence scheme into operation, he or she may refer the scheme to the Tribunal. By s 154(4), the Tribunal may "make such order, confirming or varying the scheme or substituting for the scheme another scheme proposed by one of the parties, as the Tribunal considers reasonable in the circumstances". By s 154(7), the scheme reflecting the Tribunal's order comes into operation when the order is made and operates as long as the order remains in force.
135 In this statutory context, the Full Court in PPCA concluded that a "licence scheme" must be one that involves the classes of case that the licensor (collecting society) or person on whose behalf the licensor acts (broadly, the owner of copyright) is willing to grant: [141]. The Tribunal's power extends to determination of the charges and conditions to be imposed in respect of those "classes of case" (that is, the acts comprised in the copyright able to be exercised under the licence scheme), but does not extend to other classes of case (that is, other acts in the copyright or other copyright works) that the licensor and/or owners are not willing to grant: [142]. The Full Court considered this to be consistent with the fact that what is being regulated is the relationship between the licensor and the would-be licensee, not the owner of the copyright and the would-be licensee. The Full Court said (emphasis added):
[143] In our view this approach is consistent with the policy and purpose of Part VI of the Act, which is to confer on the Tribunal power to supervise the relationship between collecting societies and persons in need of licences. The starting point mandated by s 154(1) is the voluntary offer of a licence scheme by the licensor on behalf of its members. It is not a scheme for the compulsory license of rights, which are addressed in other provisions of the Act. Indeed, the absence of the prescriptive provisions applicable to compulsory licensing provides a further indication that this is the correct approach.
[144] PPCA contends that it was not "willing" to grant licences in respect of the non-PPCA rights and also that its input agreement with the copyright owners whom it represents had not granted it a licence in respect of those rights. As a result, it submits that those owners were also not willing to grant licences for those classes of cases and, furthermore, PPCA was not able to do so. To some extent the reference to the input agreements distracts from the real point, which turns on the "willingness" or otherwise of the parties mentioned to grant the licence in respect of the classes of cases identified. That is to be ascertained from the form of licence scheme proposed by the licensor, which represents the interests of the copyright owners and accordingly may be taken to reflect the "willingness" of both.
[145] The consequence of our construction is that the Tribunal does not have power to vary the scheme proposed by a licensor insofar as it affects the classes of cases in respect of which the licence is proposed to be granted. In our view this does not lead to an absurd or unworkable result (as Foxtel contends). Subdivision H (ss 154-159) of Division 3 of Part VI of the Act concerns the regulated approval of licence schemes volunteered by rights owners. These licence schemes are to be contrasted with the grant of statutory licences under the Act, where statutory mechanisms provide for the compulsory licence of certain acts within the copyright of an owner, subject to certain provisos. An example of the latter is s 108 of the Act, which provides a defence to copyright infringement in a sound recording performed in public on terms requiring, inter alia, the payment to the copyright owner of equitable remuneration the amount of which is to be determined by the Tribunal if the parties are unable to agree. Under s 154 of the Act a degree of decisional freedom is given to the Tribunal to impose reasonable charges and conditions on the licensor, but not to expand the cases in respect of which the copyright licence is to be granted. To do so would permit the Tribunal to impose a compulsory licence upon the rights owners in circumstances where the Act indicates that this is not its intention.
136 Sections 157(1) and (2) are confined to claims by a person in a case to which a licence scheme applies. In this context, the reference in s 157(1) to a "person who claims, in a case to which a licence scheme applies, that the licensor operating the scheme has refused or failed to grant him or her a licence in accordance with the scheme, or to procure the grant to him or her of such a licence" necessarily confines the potential claim, relevantly, to a refusal or failure of the licensor to procure the grant of "such a licence", being a licence in a case to which a licence scheme applies.
137 By analogy to the reasoning in PPCA, given that s 157(3) applies to a person who claims that he or she requires a licence in a case to which a licence scheme does not apply, the decisional freedom of the Tribunal does not extend to copyright works or acts comprised in the copyright which the licensor is not authorised to licence at all. But it does extend to acts comprised in the copyright of copyright works in respect of which the licensor may grant a licence, irrespective of the charges and conditions which bind the licensor's capacity to grant the licence. On this basis, the reasoning in PPCA supports our approach to ss 157(3) and (6B) and is inconsistent with the approach of CAL and the intervening parties.
138 The intervening parties submitted this:
The power in s 157(6B) is enlivened by an application made under s 157(2) or s 157(3). Section 157(2) is, in terms, limited to cases where there is a licence scheme in place. There can be little doubt that the Full Court's reasoning in PPCA, insofar as it rested on the voluntary nature of a licence scheme, applies with equal force to a power exercisable following an application under s 157(2). It would be anomalous if the power under s 157(6B), although expressed to be available following an application 'under subsection (2) or (3)', was to operate in a markedly different way depending on which of those paths to jurisdiction was enlivened.
139 As discussed, s 157(6B) is engaged by an application under ss 157(2) or (3). As explained, an application under s 157(2) is tied to "a case to which a licence scheme applies" which calls into play the provisions peculiar to licence schemes (with their focus on "the classes of cases in which the licensor or each of the licensors is willing, or the persons on whose behalf the licensor or each of the licensors acts are willing, to grant licences" per s 136) as examined in PPCA. Section 157(3) applies to a case in which a licence scheme does not apply. The decisional freedom of an owner/member where a licence scheme does not apply is whether or not to permit a licensor to grant a licence (that is, any form of licence at all) over an act of copyright in a copyright work. If the owner/member chooses to permit a licensor to grant any licence for doing an act comprised in the copyright of a work, every limitation on that right is a mere condition the Tribunal is entitled to evaluate for reasonableness. The distinction between Pt VI and mandatory licences such as in s 108, considered in PPCA, does not lead to a different conclusion.
140 These conclusions are also consistent with the explanatory material relevant to the 2006 amendments to the Copyright Act. As noted, the recommendation of the Copyright Law Review Committee report at [11.67] was that "the jurisdiction of the Tribunal over non-statutory licences be confined exclusively to the review of licences administered by a collecting society, and that the Act be amended accordingly". It could not be said that by the words "licences administered by a collecting society", the Committee had in mind that an owner/member of a licensor might seek to both gain the advantage of a collective licensing scheme by enabling the licensor to grant a licence in respect of a copyright work, then purport to prevent the Tribunal from deciding if the conditions of any such licence the licensor could grant are or are not unreasonable by confining the licensor to grant a licence only on certain terms. Whatever else might be the case, the intention of the 2006 amendments was not to enable an owner of copyright to game its relationship with a licensor to enable it to better exert the market power it might have in a particular copyright work.
141 For these reasons, the submission of the intervening parties that nothing suggests that "s 157(6B) was intended to confer on the Tribunal a jurisdiction to make orders regulating the rights of copyright holders, as distinct from licensors" is misplaced. The Tribunal does not have jurisdiction over any copyright owner. But if an owner/member has chosen to grant a licensor a right to licence an act comprised in the copyright for a work, the owner/member has subjected itself to the Tribunal's jurisdiction to decide the reasonableness of all charges and conditions to which the grant of a licence to do an act comprised in the copyright for that work might be subject.
142 The intervening parties also submitted that the construction we consider to be correct would be in tension with the notion, inherent in the concept of a licensor, that the licensor is "authorised" to deal with the works. The problem is with the approach of CAL and the intervening parties to the concept of "authorised". The statutory provisions do not say that the Tribunal may grant a licence only on the conditions on which the licensor may grant a licence. To the contrary, the Tribunal is empowered to decide if the person's claim that the conditions proposed by the licensor are unreasonable (that is, if the claim is well-founded) and, if so, to decide the conditions that are reasonable or decide to grant a licence as the applicant or some other party (not the licensor) proposes. In the face of these powers, the idea that the Tribunal can only impose conditions the same as the conditions an owner/member requires the licensor to impose is untenable and would undermine the entire purpose of ss 157(3) and (6B).
143 We agree with the intervening parties that it is not the intention of the statutory scheme to permit the Tribunal to regulate rights in which collecting societies are not "authorised" to deal. But the issue again is the concept of "authorisation" of the licensor. The expansive view of the "authority" of the licensor taken by CAL and the intervening authorities, if adopted, would consume the entirety of the statutory provisions.
144 We agree with the intervening parties that it is highly unlikely that Parliament would have intended to confer a power to regulate the rights of copyright holders at large by means of ss 157(3) and (6B). On our construction, the provisions do not have that effect. The point we are making is that if an owner/member chooses to participate in collective licensing by permitting a licensor to grant a licence of a copyright work, it cannot then prevent the Tribunal from deciding the reasonableness of all charges and conditions of the grant.
145 Contrary to the submission of the intervening parties, the principle of legality is not infringed, but supported, by our referred construction. The principle is that clear language must be used in legislation if a person is to be deprived of a valuable right: Tabcorp Holdings Limited v Victoria [2016] HCA 4; (2016) 328 ALR 375 at [68]. In the present case there is clear language in ss 157(3) and (6B) to which effect must be given.