Australia 2025 – Full Court constructive trust over covert abattoir footage (Game Meats v FTI)
Court Decision
Under Review
August 13, 2025
Summary
On 13 August 2025, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (Burley, Jackman and Horan JJ) delivered judgment in The Game Meats Company of Australia Pty Ltd v Farm Transparency International Ltd [2025] FCAFC 104, allowing an appeal by The Game Meats Company of Australia Pty Ltd (GMC) against the first-instance refusal to impose a constructive trust and permanent injunction over footage covertly obtained by Farm Transparency International Ltd (FTI) at GMC’s Eurobin goat abattoir in Victoria. The Full Court declared that FTI holds copyright in the footage and all related images on constructive trust for GMC, ordered FTI to assign legal title in that copyright to GMC, permanently restrained FTI from publishing the footage or images to any party other than the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), ordered FTI to permanently delete all copies and file an affidavit verifying deletion, and made suppression orders over court-file exhibits. The $130,000 damages award for trespass from the first-instance judgment was upheld. On 4 December 2025, the High Court of Australia granted FTI special leave to appeal against the Full Court’s decision; FTI has reported that the Full Court’s orders are stayed pending the outcome of that appeal.
Background Context
GMC has operated a licensed halal export abattoir at Eurobin, Victoria since 1996, slaughtering approximately 4,500 goats per week sourced predominantly from New South Wales, generating more than $37 million in revenue in the year to 30 June 2022. The abattoir operates under a PrimeSafe licence under the Meat Industry Act 1993 (Vic) and as a Commonwealth export-registered establishment subject to DAFF oversight and on-plant veterinary presence. On seven occasions between 9 January and 13 April 2024, FTI employees and agents accessed the Eurobin premises at night by crawling under perimeter fencing without GMC’s authority, installed covert video cameras, and retrieved them — conduct both parties admitted constituted trespass. The cameras captured approximately 100 hours of footage, from which FTI edited a 13-minute-57-second video documenting goat stunning, slaughter, and handling practices. On 3 May 2024, FTI lodged a formal complaint with DAFF and the Minister for Agriculture alleging contraventions of the Australian Standard AS 4696:2007 (Hygienic Production and Transportation of Meat and Meat Products for Human Consumption) and calling for GMC’s licence to be suspended. On 17 May 2024, FTI published the footage and images on its website and social media; GMC obtained urgent ex parte interlocutory orders the same day, after which FTI removed the footage from public access. First-instance proceedings before Snaden J concluded with judgment on 19 December 2024, awarding $130,000 damages for trespass but declining to impose a constructive trust or permanent injunction. GMC appealed those aspects of the refusal to the Full Court.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
Moderate
The Full Court declared FTI to be the constructive trustee of copyright in all footage and images captured at the Eurobin premises between 9 January and 13 April 2024, ordered assignment of legal title in that copyright to GMC, and permanently restrained FTI from publishing the material to any party other than DAFF. FTI was ordered to permanently delete all copies and file a verification affidavit within 14 days, and suppression orders were made over court-file exhibits containing the footage. The $130,000 trespass damages judgment from the first instance was upheld. According to FTI’s public campaign communications, the footage was removed from its platforms following the Full Court orders. DAFF retains access to the footage under the carve-out in the injunction and was reviewing the complaint as of the time of the Channel Seven broadcast in May 2024; no enforcement outcome from DAFF or PrimeSafe has been documented in available sources. On 4 December 2025, the High Court granted FTI special leave to appeal; FTI reports that the Full Court’s substantive orders — including the constructive trust, assignment, and injunction — are stayed pending that appeal, though stay orders are not reproduced in the primary judgment text and require verification against subsequent docket entries.
Anticipated Effects
If the Full Court’s reasoning is upheld by the High Court, facility operators at other Australian animal-use sites could seek similar constructive trust and injunctive relief where advocates obtain and attempt to publish covert footage through trespass, increasing the legal risk and cost of covert investigation as a disclosure pathway.
If the High Court overturns or materially modifies the Full Court’s orders, the precedential effect on future investigations would be substantially reduced or eliminated, and the constructive trust, assignment, and injunction orders may be set aside.
If DAFF or PrimeSafe take enforcement action based on their preserved access to the footage, this could affect GMC’s operating licence or export registration, but no enforcement outcome has been documented in available sources and any such action remains contingent on regulatory decision-making not yet recorded.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because the decision changes the legal treatment of covertly obtained footage and imposes financial and equitable obligations on FTI, but does not alter the number of goats slaughtered at the Eurobin abattoir or any other facility, the scale of operations, or the geographic reach of the exploitation system.
Assigned Alters Legal Basis (impact type) because the Full Court’s application of constructive trust doctrine to copyright in trespass-obtained footage changes the legal ownership and publication rights available to facility operators versus advocacy organisations — establishing that copyright in footage obtained through trespass at an animal-use facility can be held on trust for the facility operator and ordered to be assigned, and that publication can be permanently restrained while regulatory access is preserved.
Assigned Moderate significance because the decision sets appellate-level precedent with potential application across animal-use facility investigations Australia-wide, but directly concerns one abattoir and one investigative episode, and its durability is uncertain pending the High Court appeal granted in December 2025.
Key Actors
The Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia (Burley, Jackman and Horan JJ) delivered the 13 August 2025 judgment in VID 93 of 2025. The first-instance judgment was delivered by Snaden J on 19 December 2024. The Game Meats Company of Australia Pty Ltd (GMC), represented by P Hayes KC and Condon Charles Lawyers, was the appellant and operator of the Eurobin abattoir. Farm Transparency International Ltd (FTI), represented by A Aleksov and Bleyer Lawyers, was the respondent and the organisation conducting the covert investigation. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) is named in the injunction as the sole permitted recipient of the footage and was the initial recipient of FTI’s formal complaint in May 2024. PrimeSafe is the Victorian licensing authority for the Eurobin facility. The High Court of Australia granted FTI special leave to appeal on 4 December 2025 (HCADisp 293). The Human Rights Law Centre published case commentary documenting the first-instance judgment and its implications.
Editorial Correction Notice
Current status: FTI reports that the Full Court’s substantive orders — constructive trust, copyright assignment, deletion, and injunction — are stayed pending the High Court appeal granted on 4 December 2025. The stay is not reflected in the Full Court judgment itself and derives from subsequent procedural orders not reproduced in the primary sources. Verification requires examination of later Federal Court or High Court docket entries. Current status should be updated once the High Court appeal is decided.
Key Actors: The identity of a third individual accompanying FTI personnel on three of the seven incursions is noted as unknown in the primary judgment. The specific DAFF officers handling the Eurobin complaint beyond the individual who forwarded the email to GMC are not identified in available sources. Any PrimeSafe enforcement action, if taken, is not documented in the case materials.
Anticipated Effects: The figure of 17 Australian slaughterhouses investigated by FTI since March 2023 is drawn from FTI’s own campaign materials and is not independently verified in court records. It is cited here as an indicator of the investigative context rather than as an established fact.
Affected Practices: Slaughter is assigned as the practice documented in the footage that is the direct subject of this decision. The decision does not regulate slaughter as a practice — it regulates information about slaughter. Other practices described in the footage (physical restraint, live transport of animals to the facility) are not directly regulated or affected by the decision and are not assigned.
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