In a landmark decision handed down in the Federal Court, Justice Gordon held that Telstra had failed to establish that copyright subsists in the contents of the Yellow Pages and White Pages telephone directories. Telstra and Sensis had alleged the publishers of ‘Local Directories’, which had been distributed in Queensland, Northern Territory and New South...
A recent study found less than 20 percent of Australians know their legal rights when they buy goods or services. The study, by the National Education and Investigation Advisory Taskforce, also found that consumers are spending, on average, almost six hours trying to resolve problems with purchased goods and services. Many businesses are also unsure...
The Office of Fair Trading has warned consumers to beware of discrepancies between what they are promised by salespeople and what is stipulated in the contract. A story was reported by a man who decided to buy a second-hand car at a dealership and was told by the salesman that a new car stereo would...
A landmark decision may have potentially absolved Internet Service Providers of any responsibility to stop illegal file-sharing amongst their users, but media companies are still looking for a solution. Perth-based Internet service provider (ISP) iiNet, the third largest ISP in Australia, has defended proceedings brought against it by 34 media companies, including Village Roadshow, Universal...
In October 2010, a man from Morayfield, north of Brisbane, was charged with the assault of his neighbour, telling police “…he wouldn’t trim the hedges”. In Queensland, issues relating to trees and fences are the most common form of neighbourhood dispute – there is currently no statutory law in Queensland that provides for disputes relating...
This article takes a look at the emerging issue of social-networking in the legal space. Social-networking has become part of everyday life with new uses and applications continuing to emerge. The use of social networking continues to grow with Facebook, MySpace and Twitter boasting a combined membership of 730 million people. At the same time,...
As you are aware, new laws for pool safety, including spas, came into effect on 1 December 2010 for Queensland pool owners in the aim of reducing incidents of drowning and serious immersion injuries among young children in swimming pools. Previously, pool owners were required to ensure a pool was enclosed with compliant fencing regardless...
In the instance of a company going bankrupt, insolvent or into receivership, what are the rights of an employee? The Australian Government protects employees through the implementation of regulation and legislation such as the Corporations Act 2001, as well as through schemes such as the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS). GEERS is a...
Australia is currently updating its laws governing e-commerce. In February 2011 the Attorney-General the Hon Robert McClelland MP, introduced the Electronic Transactions Amendment Bill to ensure Australia’s electronic transactions legislation will be brought into line with recent advances in technology. This was preceeded by extensive consultation dating back to 2008. Queensland is set to soon...
A new Personal Property Security (PPS) Register will be introduced from October 2011. Currently the States, Territories and the Commonwealth Government all have different registers with different rules for personal property. Personal property is considered to be any form of property other than land, buildings or fixtures which form a part of that land. It...
