High Court weighs who owns covert abattoir footage
Who does covert footage of “cruelty” at abattoirs ultimately belong to — the activists or the abattoir? The High Court will decide.
Did Justice Wolverine go too far? Or was it the animal activists who crossed the line?
Those two issues dominated in the High Court appeal by Farm Transparency International (FTI) against the Game Meats Company (GMC) on Tuesday.
In August 2025, the Full Federal Court, with Justice Ian Jackman — Hugh Jackman’s brother — writing the key judgment, ruled covert footage of a GMC abattoir in rural Victoria effectively belonged to GMC.
Jackman took the radical step of deeming the copyright in the footage was held on constructive trust by FTI, effectively upending the principle that copyright automatically belongs to the maker.
