Seven Network Limited v News Limited [2007] FCA 1062

Federal Court of Australia

Seven Network Limited v News Limited [2007] FCA 1062 SACKVILLE J

SUMMARY

In accordance with the practice of the Federal Court in some cases of public interest, the following Summary has been prepared to accompany the reasons for judgment delivered today. The Summary is intended to assist understanding of the decision of the Court. It is not a complete statement of the conclusions reached by the Court or the reasons for those conclusions. The only authoritative statement of the Court's reasons is that contained in the published reasons for judgment. The published reasons for judgment and this Summary

will be available on the Internet at www.fedcourt.gov.au.

Seven Network Limited v News Limited [2007] FCA 1062 SACKVILLE J

SUMMARY

1. THE DISPUTE

The heart of the dispute in this case is the complaint by 'Seven' (as I call the Applicants) that in May 2002 it was forced to shut down the business of C7 Pty Ltd ('C7'), a producer and distributor of sports channels for Australian pay television platforms. Seven says that the closure of C7's business was forced on it because some of the Respondents, notably the News, PBL and Telstra parties and their associated corporations, engaged in anti- competitive conduct in contravention of ss 45 and 46 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) ('Trade Practices Act'), during the period from 1999 to 2001.

2. MEGA-LITIGATION

The case is an example of what is best described as 'mega-litigation'. By that expression, I mean civil litigation, usually involving multiple and separately represented parties, that consumes many months of court time and generates vast quantities of documentation in paper or electronic form. An invariable characteristic of mega-litigation is that it imposes a very large burden, not only on the parties, but on the court system and,