No 68/97 Thursday, April 24, 1997
HYDROGRAPHER ACTS TO DEFEND MARINERS SAFETY
The Commonwealth, through the Australian Hydrographic Office (AHO), is continuing proceedings in the Federal Court against Navionics SpA and its distributor, Oceantalk Pty Ltd, to protect its copyright and ensure the safety of Australian mariners.
Both companies have now given clear indications to the Court that they refuse to acknowledge the Commonwealth's copyright - a course not adopted by a number of other companies who manufacture electronic charting systems.
Last year the Commonwealth commenced proceedings against Oceantalk and Navionics for infringement of copyright in its Australian nautical charts and contravention of the Trade Practices Act . The trade practices claim followed concerns by the AHO that the Navionics charts contained inaccuracies and posed risks to safety.
"Our role is to provide nautical charts for all mariners and ensure that safety at sea is not compromised through degradation of the quality of information published by the AHO. Industry suppliers of chart like products depend on our charts and the great majority are prepared to cooperate with the AHO, and we naturally cooperate with them in the interests of maritime safety. We are not trying to ban Navionics from the market as it claims - our underlying concern is safety," the Australian Hydrographer, Commodore Bob Willis said.
At the hearing for interim relief last December, Navionics was ordered by the Court to correct a number of errors and omissions in its products as identified by the Commonwealth and to advise its existing and new customers that its electronic charts contained inaccuracies.
A paper by Dr Guiseppe Carnevali, President of Navionics SpA entitled 'Australian Hydrographic Office and Industry - Cooperation or Confrontation?' written in March 1997, makes the statement that "Navionics proved to the Court that the AHO charts of Sydney Harbour, supposedly the AHO best, had 36 such errors". Extracts of this paper have been quoted in various publications. Navionics did not prove such errors - it merely alleged that they existed and the Court made no finding to this effect. The Australian Hydrographic Office rejects in the strongest terms that there are 36 errors in the charts of Sydney Harbour as claimed by Navionics.
The final hearing of both the copyright and the trade practices claim is at this stage expected to take place sometime later this year.
Further information:
Commander Robert Ward 0416 218675
The Australian Hydrographic Office is an agency of the Royal Australian Navy and is the authority responsible for the collection and presentation of navigational information to be used by mariners for safe navigation in Australian waters.
The principal product of a hydrographic office is a portfolio of nautical charts and the AHO currently issues about 400 charts of Australian waters. These charts are supported by a comprehensive program of hydrographic surveys. About 20 new and revised charts are issued each year, and the AHO issues fortnightly notices to enable mariners to keep their charts up to date. Consequently, the official charts produced by the AHO contain the best information available to the mariner sailing in Australian waters.
Although only 20 per cent of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone has been surveyed, the charts are prepared taking this into account and mariners are warned as to the risks involved in all areas where they sail. For example, unsurveyed areas are clearly indicated and reliability diagrams are included to inform the mariner of the quality of information included in official charts.
The official chart is an embodiment of the skill, care and judgement of all those involved in the chart making process and accordingly, the Commonwealth claims copyright over the nautical charts produced by the AHO.
There has been increased demand over the last 5 to 10 years for charts in electronic form to be used with real time navigation systems like GPS and navigational software packages. As the only provider of official charts, the AHO is preparing data to be used in a number commercially manufactured electronic charting systems. These include raster data (images of charts) and data for electronic chart display and information systems compliant with International Maritime Organisation requirements.
Some companies have approached the AHO to copy and present charts in electronic format, sometimes different from that shown in the official nautical chart, for the purpose of including charts in an electronic chart system. While the Commonwealth, acting through the AHO, encourages and supports the development of electronic charting systems, it generally requires that electronic charts are prepared in a way to ensure that information used to aid navigation is presented consistently.
As the owner of the copyright, the Commonwealth through the AHO, has developed a licensing regime which specifies the minimum requirements for presentation of information that must be met by prospective licensees. These requirements will assist in ensuring the integrity of the information presented in electronic charts and alleviate concerns to safety of life and property. The principal requirement is that the licensee recognises and observes the Commonwealth's copyright and all licence conditions relating to presentation of navigational information including minimum standards. Most companies have either abided with or have expresses a willingness to abide by these conditions.