Court of Appeal upholds Norowzian copyright decision

- The Court of Appeal has upheld the decision to reject Medhi Norowzian's claim that his copyright was infringed by Diageo in the Guinness commercial, 'Anticipation'.

Lord Justices Nourse, Brooke and Buxton upheld Mr Justice Rattee's original ruling that Anticipation ad did not infringe copyright of Norowzian's film, 'Joy'.

The ad featured a man dancing around a glass of Guinness, which was meant to underscore the end line "good things come to those who wait".

However, in a move that will have wide-ranging implications for the media and film industry the judges ruled that a film (including TV and film ads) could be a dramatic work.

This is the first time that a UK court has given such a broad interpretation of the term dramatic work in the context of films.

A spokesman for Diageo said: "This decision will be of interest to all those involved in the advertising /film industries. The decision has broadened the protection that is available to films under English copyright law. Aspects of a film that were not previously understood to be capable of copyright may now be protectable by reason of this decision."

This article was first published on Campaign