Animal cruelty. The meat in a copyright case. What's the scam?

When animal rights group Farm Transparency Project blew the whistle on unlawful practices at an abattoir, they didn't expect copyright laws to stop them. What's the scam?

The scam is how the Federal Court last week ruled in favour of the perpetrator, finding video footage cannot be used as evidence of animal cruelty when obtained without permission.

The Game Meats Company in Eurobin, Victoria, had argued that they indeed held the copyright for the footage, and the judge agreed, upholding an earlier judgment that awarded them $130,000 in damages, as well as ordering the footage destroyed.