A New Zealand man has been deported from Australia after allegations that he copied the operations manual of a company selling computer betting systems.
The company Statuscard Australia Pty Ltd has won A$760,000 ($943,864) in damages after arguing rivals copied its operations manual, The Courier Mail newspaper reportedin Brisbane.
The New Zealander, Dominic Dibiani, (also known as Derek Di Silva) and an Australian, Tony Rotondo, were alleged in the Supreme Court in Brisbane to have breached the copyright on the Statuscard computer screen display system.
Rotondo appeared for himself in the trial but the court was told Dibiani had already been deported to New Zealand.
The court was told Statuscard had developed a system which used information telecast by Channel Seven on a system known as BettorData.
Statuscard's system does not attempt to assist punters to place a bet by reference to anything known about the horse, jockey, or conditions of the track.
Instead, it relies on a theory that the "market" is not fully informed and that some punters are better informed than others with inside knowledge and tended to place their bets secretively and shortly before the start of a race.
The placement of "smart money" was recorded by the TAB computer which passed it on without note or comment to the BettorData system.
Statuscard's computer programme was designed to enhance that information and to organise and display it in a form which readily identified the change in betting which occurred when the "smart money" was bet.
Subscribers to the Statuscard system could then follow the "smart money" and place their own bets.
Statuscard alleged Rotondo and Dibiani had marketed a product which was in effect Statuscard's system and also had copied its operation manual.
In a written judgment Justice Richard Chesterman found there had been a breach of copyright and the loss to Statuscard had been A$953,590 ($1,184,289).
He reduced the total by 20 per cent to allow for contingencies but allowed 9 per cent interest from July 2002.
Justice Chesterman said the claim for copyright in the screen display failed, but there could be no doubt the operating manual had been copied and Statuscard was entitled to damages and an injunction against further infringement of its manual.
