The case of Nagpal v Global Cars Au Pty Ltd (No 2) [2021] FCA 1300 (Nagpal) concerned a dispute relating to the domain name cars24.com.au. Ultimately, an Originating Application brought by the Applicants seeking, amongst other things, declaratory relief was set aside and the proceedings were dismissed. The Federal Court was then to determine the question of costs in the proceedings. [Read more…]
IT Law
Business promotion online – liability for comments by others
21 October 2021 by
The recent High Court case of Australian New Channel Pty Ltd v Voller [2021] HCA 27 (Fairfax) found a business which published ‘posts’ on their Facebook page was liable for defamatory comments made by third parties to that post. Liability may be found irrespective of the publisher’s intent and the relevance of the comment to the original post. [Read more…]
Government surveillance bill passed by Parliament
30 September 2021 by
On 25 August 2021 Federal Parliament passed the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2021 (Bill). The Bill modifies various acts, including the Surveillance Devices Act 2004 (Cth) (SDA) and the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth) (CA), to enhance the law enforcement powers of the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission in respect of serious online crime.[1] The Bill introduces three (3) new warrants:
- data disruption warrants;
- network activity warrants; and
- account takeover warrants.
Can email trackers be submitted as evidence?
31 August 2021 by
Whether email trackers, read receipts and similar indicators that show an email has been received and, ostensibly, read can be submitted as evidence has not been substantially considered in standing jurisprudence. This article briefly considers whether, in light of existing case law, email trackers can be submitted as evidence. [Read more…]
International companies can be bound by Australian privacy laws
31 August 2021 by
The recent determination by the Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner, Angele Falk, (Commissioner) in Commissioner Initiated Investigation into Uber Technologies, Inc. & Uber B.V. (Privacy) [2021] AICmr 34 (Uber) provides further guidance on the extraterritorial connection of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act) though the ‘Australian link’ set out in subsections 5B(2)-(3) (Australian Link). This article discusses how the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OIAC) will assess whether an entity has an Australian Link to legally bind international entities to the Act. [Read more…]
Ransomware Payments Bill 2021 (Cth)
23 August 2021 by
Ransomware is a type of software which maliciously denies an organisation access to their own IT systems and often threatens to release information within such a system subject to the payment of a ransom. The government believes ransomware attacks are Australia’s largest cyber threat.[1] The Ransomware Payments Bill 2021 (Cth) (Bill) intends to establish mandatory reporting requirements for all of Commonwealth entities, State or Territory agencies, corporations and partnerships who make ransomware payments pursuant to a ransomware attack. The Bill would see such organisations provide notice to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). [Read more…]
Can an AI be an inventor under the Patents Act 1990 (Cth)
4 August 2021 by
In the recent decision of Thaler v Commissioner of Patents [2021] FCA 879, Beach J rejected the Deputy Commissioner of Patents’ (DCP) determination that, due to the inventor being named as an artificial intelligence system (AI) rather than a human, a patent application did not comply with the Patents Regulations 1991 (Cth) (Regulations). [Read more…]
Software royalties and income tax
26 July 2021 by
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recently released a draft Taxation Ruling (TR) 2021/D4 (Draft Ruling) which considers whether certain software related royalties may be taxable. In short, the Draft Ruling provides a much needed, and quite broad, scope for when consideration of computer software will be a royalty for income tax purposes. This article discusses this broadened scope. [Read more…]
Non-fungible tokens – the new way to own IP?
23 July 2021 by
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been making headlines recently for being sold at auction for enormous sums of money. Business school drop-out turned American DJ, 3LAU, apparently sold his NFT collection just over a month ago for $11.6 million USD ($15 million AUD).[1] Grimes, otherwise known as Claire Boucher, a prominent musician and partner to Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, sold multiple digital artworks amounting to a total of $6 million USD ($7.79 million AUD).[2]
So what are NFTs and how can they help you protect your intellectual property (IP)? [Read more…]
Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021 released
The Australian Government has released the Social Media (Anti-Trolling) Bill 2021 (Bill) in an effort to protect Australians who maintain social media pages (Page Owners). The need for such legislation is obvious in light of the High Court’s decision in the case of Fairfax Media Publications v Voller [2021] HCA 27 (Fairfax) which determined that Page Owners may be exposed to defamation liability as a result of defamatory comments left on the page by third parties. Such liability would arise even where the owner was unaware of the defamatory comment upon their page. [Read more…]