Welcome to our Newsletter, bringing you the latest in Intellectual Property, Technology and Media Law news.
New Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution expertise page
HWL Ebsworth’s Intellectual Property Dispute Resolution team have created a new expertise page to provide you with more information about our offering in this space and how we can assist you.
The team works in all areas of the life cycle of an intellectual property dispute. This includes from the time of initial advice, correspondence with opposing parties prior to the commencement of Court proceedings (and potentially to resolve disputes without the need for Court proceedings) right up to hearings, appeals and legal enforcement steps.
To check out our new expertise page, click here.
Preparing for an ‘Open’ Economy with the Consumer Data Right Regime
With the introduction of new regulations aimed at providing better outcomes for consumers, the Consumer Data Right (CDR) introduced ‘Open Banking’. The intention behind the government regime is to increase customer value and redefine competition across various economic sectors.
As the CDR requirements and regulations are introduced across Australia in the next few years, it is important for all participants to consider the real consequences of failing to comply.
Click here to read more.
A recent snapshot of defamation law in Australia
Over the last 18 months, there have been significant developments in Australian defamation law. In 2021, as part of the Stage 1 Defamation Reforms, a series of amendments were made to the Uniform Defamation Laws in several jurisdictions with the aim of improving the balance between protecting individual reputations and freedom of expression, particularly in matters of public interest.
A year on, the interpretation of provisions introduced as part of those reforms (particularly the interpretation of the new “serious harm” threshold) is now under consideration.
Other case law developments are also unfolding with an increase in the number of defamation matters passing through Australian Courts as a result of the increased use of social media, while high profile defamation cases commenced by the likes of Craig McLachlan, Clive Palmer and Mark McGowan (to name a few), have brought defamation law into the public spotlight and given the Courts an opportunity to examine some important legal issues.
In this article, we examine several important case studies.
Click here to read more.
Introducing the new public interest defence
Defamation law in Australia has undergone significant change over the last couple of years, in particular since June 2018, when the Council of Attorneys General convened the Defamation Working Party to undertake a national review of the model defamation provisions across Australia.
This led to the introduction of the Model Defamation Amendment Provisions 2020, which commenced in a number of jurisdictions including South Australia on 1 July 2021.
This article explores the public interest defence and its introduction to South Australia by the insertion of section 27A to the Defamation Act 2005 (SA).
Click here to read more.
In case you missed it, the following articles were recently written and published by our team:
Digital Games Tax Offset: Next level achieved
The Digital Games Tax Offset (DGTO) is a step closer to boosting the Australian games industry, with the introduction of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 4) Bill 2022 into Parliament on 23 November 2022.
The DGTO is a 30% refundable tax offset for expenditure incurred in developing digital games with at least $500,000 of qualifying expenditure and up to a cap of $20 million per year.
In this article we outline eligibility criteria for the DGTO as well as qualifying expenditure and excluded expenditure, including the application of integrity measures.
Click here to read more.
Contested .au direct domain? Our top 5 tips for negotiating your way to success
It has now been almost two months since the Priority Allocation Window for .au direct domain names closed, with all unopposed applicants now the registered holders of their applied for domain names. In addition, all unclaimed .au domain names are now available to the public for registration.
As noted in our previous .au direct articles (here, here and here), competing applicants to a .au direct domain name are required to negotiate amongst themselves to determine who will secure the domain name, with the Australian domain name authority leaving the associated domain name essentially in ‘limbo’. In this article we provide our top 5 tips for negotiating your way to success for contested .au direct domain names.
Click here to read more.
High profile data breaches reignite push for privacy change
Recent high profile data breaches have renewed the Government’s focus on updating the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), the centrepiece of Australia’s privacy regime.
A refresh of the Privacy Act has been on the cards since 2019, with the most recent notable progress in October 2021, with the then-Government releasing an exposure draft Bill proposing targeted amendments to the Privacy Act, along with a Discussion Paper contemplating further changes. We wrote about these proposed changes at the time in our article here.
A year on and following the significant data breaches coming out of Optus and Medibank, Australia’s new Government is seeking to fast track a number of changes.
Click here to read more.
Licence to…..what? The nature of IP licensing in Australia
A core tenet of IP regulation is that it incentivises creativity, equipping IP creators with rights to protect and exploit their work(s) to the exclusion of all others (provided they meet the relevant requirements under the relevant IP laws). The two primary means of exploiting IP are through selling IP to others (assignment) and allowing others to use IP (licensing). Assignment results in a full transfer of IP ownership, whereas licensing affords certain third parties with the right to do something (which they otherwise would be prevented from doing by virtue of the exclusivity of an original IP creator’s rights), with the original creator maintaining ownership of the IP.
But what is the nature of this ‘right to do’ and what protections, if any, does a licence holder possess in the event that the original creator of a work assigns their IP away, or the IP right is otherwise invalidated?
Click here to read more.
Reminder: Critical infrastructure registration due this week
As we highlighted in a previous article, recent changes to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 (Cth) expanded the scope of infrastructure assets caught by the legislation, and introduced a number of associated new obligations.
In this article we discuss the expanded scope of the critical infrastructure assets which are caught and the reporting obligations that apply.
Click here to read more.