View source for Pacific Film Laboratories v Commissioner of Tax

{{Short description|Judgement of the High Court of Australia}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use Australian English|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{More footnotes|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox court case
| name=Pacific Film Laboratories v Commissioner of Tax
| court=[[High Court of Australia]]
| image=Coat of Arms of Australia.svg
| date decided=9 October 1970
| full name=Pacific Film Laboratories Pty Ltd v Federal Commissioner of Taxation 
| citations={{cite AustLII|HCA|36|1970|parallelcite=(1970)&nbsp;121&nbsp;[[Commonwealth Law Reports|CLR]]&nbsp;154}}
| judges= [Barwick CJ, McTiernan, Windeyer, Owen and Walsh JJ]
| prior actions=
| subsequent actions=
| opinions=
}}
In '''''Pacific Film Laboratories v Commissioner of Tax''''',<ref>{{cite AustLII|HCA|36|1970|litigants=Pacific Film Laboratories v Commissioner of Tax |parallelcite=(1970) 121 [[Commonwealth Law Reports|CLR]] 154 |courtname=auto |date=9 October 1970}}.</ref> (Australia) Windeyer J defined copyright: "It is not a right in an existing thing. It is a [[negative right]], as it has been called, a power to prevent the making of a physical thing by copying."

== Case Details ==
The ''Pacific Film Laboratories v. Commissioner of Tax'' was regarding whether the reproduction of prints owned by a third party, for that third party was an act of sale which could incur sales tax.  Pacific Film argued that as it had no property right in the prints, it was not selling anything to the customer which might be taxed. The High Court rejected this argument saying that when Pacific Film reproduced the customer's negatives, under authorisation from the customer, the [[copyright]] was owned by the customer but the [[Personal property|chattel]] produced in the process of reproduction was owned by Pacific Film.  The sale of this 
chattel to the customer incurred the sales tax.

== References ==
{{reflist}}
*{{cite book |author=Reynolds, R |chapter=Chapter 2: Copyright – Its Birth and Nature |chapter-url=http://www.federationpress.com.au/pdf/Reynolds%20IP%20Ch02.pdf |title= 	Intellectual Property |publisher=Federation Press}}
&nbsp;

[[Category:High Court of Australia cases]]
[[Category:1970 in Australian law]]
[[Category:1970 in case law]]
[[Category:Australian copyright case law]]


{{Australia-law-stub}}