Amid the excitement of the Olympics, another eagerly anticipated quadrennial event has rolled around: IP Australia’s fee updates. Australiaâs intellectual property administrators announced several changes to trade mark, design, and patent fees that will take effect starting 1 October 2024. It is important for trade mark owners and professionals in the intellectual property field to …
Expertise Archives:
From Data Security to Doxxing: unpacking the first tranche of Privacy Act Reforms.
The Australian Government has taken a first step forward in its effort to bring Australian Privacy laws into the digital age, with the introduction of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (Bill) into Parliament last week. This announcement comes just shy of the one-year anniversary of the release of the Australian Government’s response …
Melissa Miller
ZeroFlucs Group Pty Ltd
Luxury Law Guide Australia 2024: Part 2
Partner, Belinda Breakspear and Senior Associate, Harriet Young, have authored the Australian chapter of The Global Legal Post Luxury Law Guide 2024. The second instalment of our two-part series addresses privacy and endorsement, product placement regulation, and corporate image protection trends for luxury brands in Australia. Download the full chapter here or read below. 4. …
Luxury Law Guide Australia 2024: Part 1
Partner, Belinda Breakspear and Senior Associate, Harriet Young, have authored the Australian chapter of The Global Legal Post Luxury Law Guide 2024. The first instalment of our two-part series highlights the key considerations involved in trade mark ownership, protection, copyright law, and design law for luxury brands in Australia. Download the full chapter here or …
Australia: Government response to the Privacy Act Review Report
This insight article was initially published on OneTrust DataGuidance, which can be viewed here. On September 28, 2023, the Australian Government released its response to the Attorney General’s Privacy Act Review Report (Response). The Response is the culmination of several years of work and several stages of reporting and engagement, following the initial recommendation in …
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The Legal 500 Country Comparative Guides: Artificial Intelligence in Australia
Partner Alex Hutchens, Special Counsel Rebecca Lindhout and Lawyers Sebastian Galetto and Alex Komarowski have authored the Australian chapter of the Legal 500 Country Comparative Guide for Artificial Intelligence. Whilst there is currently no AI-specific regulation in Australia, a variety of existing legislation will apply to AIâs broader deployment in Australia. Our experts provide an …
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Major changes to unfair contract terms laws – the regime is here
On 10 November 2023, significant changes to the unfair contract terms (UCT) regime in Australia came into effect. With expanded application and the introduction of significant penalties for infringement, if you havenât already, now is the time to assess whether your business is caught by this regime and if so, update your documentation accordingly. What …
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Less than one month to go: what will happen if you haven’t updated your unfair contract terms
This is the third article of McCullough Robertsonâs series on What you donât know about unfair contract terms, which highlight upcoming changes to Australiaâs unfair contract terms (UCT) regime. In our first two articles we took a closer look at the non-disparagement clause and indemnity clauses. With less than one month to go, we thought …
Data breach obligations at forefront of Queenslandâs privacy reforms
After some anticipation, the Queensland Government last week introduced legislation to strengthen Queenslandâs privacy regime and increase transparency and accountability in how Queensland government agencies collect, hold, use and otherwise deal with personal information. The Information Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 (Qld) (Bill) proposes various amendments to the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld) …
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Cyber Security, Privacy, and Data
Livestreaming â have you considered copyright protection and infringement?
With the advent of an increasingly remote and/or hybrid work culture, there has been an increase in the use of various livestreaming platforms, including in relation to the viewing of business, organisational, cultural and sporting events. However, this may leave open the possibility of infringing on third-party copyright materials, or having the livestream material shared …
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A tale of two deals – just because an indemnity is unfair in one, doesn’t make it unfair in another
This is the second article of McCullough Robertsonâs series on What you donât know about unfair contract terms, which highlight upcoming changes to Australiaâs unfair contract terms (UCT) regime, including some of the key contract terms that fall within the ambit of that regime. In our first article we took a closer look at the …
How to avoid an own goal: Ambush marketing and the FIFA Womenâs World Cup 2023
As the FIFA Womenâs World Cup 2023 comes to a close, there is no doubt that the event was a huge success for fans and sponsors alike. With an event of this magnitude, and success in Australia (of both the event itself, the Australian womenâs soccer team, and womenâs sports more generally), companies will be …
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What you donât know about unfair contract terms: unmasking the hidden unfairness of non-disparagement clauses
On 10 November 2023, significant changes to the unfair contract terms (UCT) regime in Australia come into effect. With expanded application and the introduction of significant penalties for infringement, if you havenât already, now is the time to assess whether your business is caught by this regime and, if so, update your documentation accordingly. In …
Jacob Bartels
The battle of the beers
The Federal Court of Australia has recently ruled in favour of the creators of âBetter Beerâ for a misleading and deceptive conduct claim, which concerned the similarities in the packaging and production of Torquay Beverage Co Pty Ltdâs âBetter Beerâ and Brick Lane Brewing Co Pty Ltdâs âSidewinderâ beer.[1] Acknowledging that while beer lovers have …
Practical guidance on âcopyright claimsâ from digital services providers â are you sure itâs legit?
There has been a recent emergence of online digital services providers, which raise claims of âcopyright infringing materialâ or similar against publishers of online content, with a view to protecting their clienteleâs copyright works. The issue? These copyright claims in some circumstances appear to be made without conducting the proper copyright infringement analysis, including forming …
Branding on trend: Certification of Australian Fashion
To celebrate Australian Fashion Week 2022, our Digital and Intellectual Property team take a look at the latest trade mark trend and how it will help support Australiaâs fashion industry. Australian Fashion Council Campaign In May 2021, the Federal Government awarded the Australian Fashion Council Ltd (AFC) a grant to develop an âAustralian Fashionâ certification …
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Sort out your priorities! .au direct domain names launch on 24 March 2022
Australiaâs country-code top-level domains (or ccTLDs) currently include âcom.auâ, ânet.auâ, âorg.auâ, âid.auâ, âgov.auâ, and âedu.auâ. As flagged in our news update of 9 September 2021 see here, a new â.auâ domain namespace will soon be available. As of 13:00 AEDT on 24 March 2022, eligible registrants can apply for the new, shorter â.auâ direct ccTLD. …
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Electronic Execution Do’s and Don’ts
COVID-19 has brought a number of challenges to the way we do business in the RegTech sector. However, the pandemic has also brought sharply into focus the practical difficulties associated with executing, attesting and witnessing hard copy documents (which is increasingly moving to digital operations for a host of reasons, including improved customer experience and …
Changes to the Franchising Code â What you need to know ahead of 1 July
The Australian Government recently released amendments to the Franchising Code of Conduct (Franchising Code). These changes have arisen as a result of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the franchising sector, the subsequent Parliamentary Joint Committeeâs Fairness in Franchising Report, and consultation on the resulting exposure draft legislation. The aim of the amendments is to promote competition …
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Retaining the best employees: 4 key employment considerations for your RegTech business so key innovators donât leave with your ideas
The regulatory technology (RegTech) sector has gained rapid traction in recent years. Young RegTech companies seeking to differentiate themselves in a booming industry will only be as innovative as their employees. In Australia, these businesses are hiring in a highly competitive market and should be considering the steps they can take to retain the best …
RegTech cloud services agreements â assessing the real risks
Part 1 – Setting the scene, service levels and data The conversation usually goes a little like this when you ask most cloud services providers to amend their terms⌠âWeâre a one to many provider, our pricing is based on having a single offering with a consistent approach to riskâ âWe donât control your data, …
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Privacy by Design â protecting personal information from the wire-frame up
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The dynamic and ever-growing nature of privacy regulations and attack vectors related to privacy emphasises the importance for organisations to do a better job protecting data through technology design. Also known as, âPrivacy by Designâ and âPrivacy by Defaultâ, the terms refer to the system engineering approach of integrating data procedures in technology to …
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Commonwealth Government releases IoT Security Code of Practice
After a period of significant public consultation, including consideration of submissions from over 4,000 organisations, on 3 September 2020, the Commonwealth Government of Australia released its Code of Practice: Securing the Internet of Things for Consumers (Code). The Code sets out a voluntary set of 13 principles that vendors of Internet of Things (IoT) devices …
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Itâs ale gone pear shaped for Urban Alley: Appeal dismissed with costs
In February 2020, we reported on the Federal Court case of Urban Alley Brewery v La Sirène, in which the Federal Court of Australia found in favour of Melbourne brewer La Sirèneâs cross-claim to have Melbourne brewer Urban Alleyâs trade mark for URBAN ALE cancelled from the Australian Trade Marks Register. Our case summary is …
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Itâs ale gone pear shaped for Urban Alley: Appeal dismissed with costs
In February 2020, we reported on the Federal Court case of Urban Alley Brewery v La Sirène, in which the Federal Court of Australia found in favour of Melbourne brewer La Sirèneâs cross-claim to have Melbourne brewer Urban Alleyâs trade mark for URBAN ALE cancelled from the Australian Trade Marks Register. Our case summary is …
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Certain sports supplements to be regulated as âmedicinesâ under the therapeutic goods regulatory regime from November 2020
The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration has declared that, as of 30 November 2020, certain sports supplements will be captured and regulated as âtherapeutic goodsâ under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 (Cth) (TGA) and the existing Therapeutic Goods (Declared Goods) Order 2019 (Order). This announcement, and the updates to the therapeutic goods regulatory regime, comes after …