E-Laws / Legal Alerts

Protecting Intellectual Property created by Employees/Contractors

Businesses need to be very mindful of just who owns the rights in works created by people who work for them – whether those people be employees or contractors.
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The recent decision of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (the "Commission") in Village Cinemas Australia Pty Ltd v Carter (the "Village Case") has received quite a lot of press, and has confirmed the broad scope of the "genuine operational reasons" exemption from unfair dismissal in the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (Cth) (the "Act").
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Retail Landlords - Issues Involving the Sitting Tenant

A recent decision of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal (the "Helou Case") has forced retail landlords to seriously reconsider their approach to negotiating a new lease with an existing tenant who is holding-over under an expired lease (a "sitting tenant").
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eBay's Triumph - At Least for Now  

Some would regard ticket scalping as the cynical process by which profiteers take advantage of true fans by re-selling tickets at exorbitant prices. Others would describe it as a legitimate secondary market enterprise and endeavour. Whatever your view, there is little doubt that ticket scalping has become increasingly prevalent (particularly with the advent of the Internet), and promoters and organisers of events are trying to put a halt to the practice ? as the recent case involving Creative Festival Entertainment Pty Ltd ("CFE") and eBay International AG ("eBay") demonstrates.
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WorkChoices Is Here To Stay  

You will probably be aware by now that the Federal Government had a victory last week in the High Court of Australia. By a 5-2 majority, the High Court dismissed the challenge by the States, Territories and two trade union organisations to the Constitutional validity of the Federal Government's controversial WorkChoices legislation, and upheld the Commonwealth's legislation passed in reliance on its "corporations power".
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World Wide Web, or World Wide Worry?  

With an estimated sixty billion emails sent across the world on a daily basis and "cyberbludging" costing companies an  estimated $600 million per year, Internet use is an area of increasing importance in the workplace.
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New WorkChoices Legislation  

Oh No! Not another WorkChoices email. Yes, regardless of your view, there is no getting around the new National WorkChoices Legislation. As of today, it most probably affects you.
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Do Not Leave Your Estate To Chance  

A recent survey has found that over 48% of adults in Sydney do not have a Will. If you die without having a valid Will, you are deemed to have died 'intestate'. This has a couple of practical consequences.
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Defamation and Corporations  

According to ABC Local Radio program "The World Today", Sydney is the world capital for defamation cases, having more than double the number per capita than Britain and more than 10 times the number per capita than the ever litigious USA.
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Off-Site Bullying  

Have you done all you can to ensure that bullying does not occur at your workplace? Are you aware that your company can be liable for  the bullying of another company's employees?
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Employee References - Think Carefully  

Most employees expect to be provided with a reference on termination of their employment, attesting to their character, honesty, skills and record of employment. Unfortunately, in practice, the provision of such a reference can be a tricky issue for employers, particularly if they are not inclined to provide an employee with a favourable reference.
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Corporate Responsibilities

In these days of ever-increasing corporate regulation, it can sometimes be extremely difficult for directors and officers of companies to keep up to date with their obligations and duties at law - for example, pursuant to the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (NSW), the myriad of taxation acts, and the regulations made under them - as well as to meet their (seemingly also ever-increasing) commercial and operational responsibilities.
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Mobile Spam

In an earlier Legal Alert we outlined key provisions of the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) (the "Spam Act") and in particular the prohibition on the sending of commercial electronic messages with an Australian link without the prior consent of the end user (and in the absence of an existing customer/business relationship).
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Big Brother at the Workplace

You suspect that one of your employees is spending too much time surfing the Internet and emailing friends, and not enough time adding to the value of your business - but you have no direct evidence. What can you do?
The rights of employers and employees with respect to workplace email and Internet has been a vexed issue for some time. Whilst case law suggests that an appropriately drafted policy document will be enforceable if it has been brought to the attention of the employee, there is some uncertainty as to the extent to which employers can go in restricting and monitoring email and Internet.
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Caring for the Carers

You are probably aware that the Industrial Relations Act 1996 (NSW) entitles carers to fifty two (52) weeks unpaid parental leave on the birth of a child. However, you may not be aware that employers are in danger of breaching the Anti-Discrimination Act 1997 (NSW) if they do not give careful consideration to proposals for carers to be re-introduced into the workforce on a part time basis.
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"In Principle" Agreements Do Not Bind the Parties

In the case of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Brisbane as Trustee under Instrument 702027154 v Ormlie Trading Pty Ltd [2003] QSC 351, Ormlie made an offer in principle to purchase a property owned by the Church, and the Church accepted Ormlie's in principle offer. The Church subsequently contracted to sell the property to another party, and Ormlie commenced proceedings seeking orders requiring the Church to sell the property to Ormlie on the basis that a binding contract had been entered into.
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High Court Rules Against Split Home Loan

Yesterday, the High Court of Australia gave its decision in the case Commissioner of Taxation v Hart. The case concerns a split loan, and whether tax deductions for compounding interest on the part of the loan used to finance an investment property are permitted.
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Spam Act 2003

More than 50% of all email is electronic junk mail or "spam". This has become such a serious issue for email and mobile telephone users that the Australian Government introduced the Spam Act 2003, which (among other things) bans the sending of commercial electronic messages with an Australian link without the prior consent of the end-user (unless there is an existing customer-business relationship) from 10 April 2004.
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When Employees Get Creative

Many employers are not sufficiently aware of the problems that can arise when employees make a discovery or an invention during the term of their employment. Just who owns the intellectual property in the discovery or invention?
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Privacy Statements

Do you ever bother to read privacy statements? If you are turned off by their length and complexity, then you are not alone.
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New Procedures for notifying ASIC of Changes to Company Details

On 1 July 2003, ASIC introduced new procedures for notifying it of changes to company details. Companies will no longer file annual returns. Instead, ASIC will now send out a Company Statement and an invoice for an annual Review Fee shortly after a company's Review Date, which is based on the anniversary of the company's date of registration.
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Do Your Employees Spend Too Much Time on the Internet?

The internet has become an indispensable business tool for most of us. We are also increasingly using it in our personal lives, for example to purchase goods and services, do our banking, and for information and entertainment. The results of a study by Griffith University business lecturer Dr Tino Fenech have recently been released ? and he found that almost half of all internet use in the workplace is personal, and that the cost of this to businesses ? in terms of the cost of downloading information and in terms of reduced productivity of employees ? can be unexpectedly high.
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ASX Continuous Disclosure Regime

On 26 February 2003 the Australian Securities & Investments Commission ("ASIC") filed proceedings against Southcorp Limited (the listed wine producer) alleging a breach of its continuous disclosure obligations.
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Australia: Land Beyond Time

A "must see" new IMAX film began screening at the Darling Harbour IMAX theatre yesterday - AUSTRALIA: Land Beyond Time.
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Abolishing Double Jeopardy - Double the Justice or Double the Trouble?

The recent Hollywood film Double Jeopardy posed the question as to whether a wife could be tried and convicted for actually murdering the husband she was earlier wrongly convicted of killing - and dealt with the ancient "double jeopardy" rule of English criminal law.
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TV Production Company and Network Misled Job Seekers

A recent Federal Court case, involving a TV Production Company that was found to have misled job seekers, has highlighted the importance of compliance with the Trade Practices Act during everyday work practices.
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Head Hunters - Employers Beware!

This week the Federal Court of Australia found that representations made to a new employee were misleading. The employee was headhunted from his job and offered a position with another company. The employee was told that the new position was for the "long haul" and was reassured by the "headhunter" that the position he was offered would be stable... then two years later the employee was made redundant!
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How does the Privacy Act affect you?

You will have heard by now that the recent changes to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) require most businesses to comply with 10 "National Privacy Principles". Failure to comply with these principles could cause you or your business financial penalties or loss. The attached Fact Sheet summarises the more important of your obligations. Please contact us if you have any specific queries.
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Directors' Liability - Could you be liable? 

Recent media attention of the HIH, One.Tel and Ansett collapses has alerted us all to the increasing liability of company directors.
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Blue Murder - A mini-series shown on the ABC

This Alert is not about legal matters as such but it is about the law - and the breach of it...  You may have seen in the newspapers in the past week that the ABC has rushed to broadcast a mini-series entitled "Blue Murder". In fact, it is going to air tonight and tomorrow night (31 July and 1 August) at 9.30pm.
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South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club Ltd VS News Ltd and Ors

As you may be aware, in the previous case the trial judge (Justice Finn) made the finding that the National Rugby League and Ors ("NRL") had not breached section 45 of the Trade Practices Act (the "Act") (which precludes a corporation from entering into contracts, arrangements or understandings which restrict dealings or affect competition) when it excluded Souths from the rugby league competition.
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