News and resources

The recent Victorian Supreme Court case of Ned Kelly Centre Ltd v Australian Rail Track Corporation [2023] VSC 421 asks the question of whether a familial connection to land is enough to trigger Victoria’s human rights laws to stop the development of a tourist facility. A second question arises: does Australia’s patchwork human rights legislation […]

The Federal Court has ruled a major fund management corporation misled investors about its $1 billion ethical fund, which the company claimed was screened to ensure investments went into environmentally and socially beneficial projects. Fund manager accused of misleading investors over ethical fund It was the first major victory for the Australian Securities & Investments […]

Who owns all of the images on social media? All those holiday snaps, happy family memories and eyewitness videos of crazy happenings and crimes that are uploaded daily… Do we still own the images we post on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snapchat? Terms of service and images on social […]

Are there rules around claiming copyright if I write a novel or a research paper using generative AI? If I ask a large language model like ChatGPT or Bing Chat to put together a paragraph or two on some topic and include it in my writing, can I claim it as all my own work? […]

An Australian woman who was a victim of identity theft was shocked when she received a legal notice from the United States ordering her to pay Adidas and the US National Basketball Association a total of US$1.2 million in damages. Identify theft victim told to pay US$1.2m in damages Without her being present or even […]

Lawyer’s use of AI program confirms its unreliability A New York lawyer was embarrassed to admit using artificial intelligence (AI) program ChatGPT when preparing his courtroom legal argument, after it was exposed to have cited several court cases that didn’t exist. When the judge and opponent lawyers couldn’t find the cases, the lawyer discovered ChatGPT […]

The sudden emergence of ChatGPT and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots as a feature of everyday life has opened up a new frontier in digital communication and content creation. However, the capacity of the technology to create false information raises the threat that those who disseminate such falsehoods can be sued for defamation. What is ChatGPT? […]

ASIC and the courts have shown they are serious about clamping down on companies that breach continuous disclosure laws. This includes companies which do not notify their shareholders of a cyber attack. Record fine for not following market disclosure laws The corporate regulator Australian Securities & Investments Commission recently levied a record $15 million fine […]

Weighing up the pros and cons of a case, discarding irrelevancies, assessing the likelihood of statements being the truth or a lie… it’s all in a day’s work for a judge in a court. But could computers replace judges, if programmed correctly? Could a computer weigh the evidence and decide whether the defendant is guilty […]

Police and security services are making ever more use of facial recognition technology, which can identify individuals via CCTV by scanning an individual’s face and matching it to images held in a database. No dedicated laws in Australia for facial recognition technology Facial recognition technology (FRT) can be useful, but Australia does not have clear […]

The commercial use of facial recognition technology has caused concern among privacy advocates. What is facial recognition technology? Facial recognition technology breaks down the face into micro measurements, such as the distance between the eyes, the nose to the upper lip, lower lip to point of jaw, ears to eyes and so on – measurements […]

Police routinely use the data extraction technology Cellebrite to obtain data from mobile phones for their investigations. But there could be problems with them relying on this hi-tech digital scanning tool to collect evidence to present in court. There are growing concerns about the technology, with some experts claiming the software may have security flaws. […]

In a superpower battle, Scarlett Johansson is suing the huge Disney corporation, alleging it breached her contract by streaming her latest movie, Black Widow, at the same time as the film’s cinema release. Ms Johansson, who played the title role in Black Widow, had a contract with Marvel Studios for a share of the box […]

We are often asked by clients when is the right time to start planning their exit from their small business. Our answer is – the day you open. Starting, leaving and transferring a business is complex and there are many things to consider in formulating an exit strategy. In this article, we focus on something […]

That song you copy and broadcast on social media, the music you use at a public function, or the anthem you use at a political rally can land you in big trouble with music copyright laws and cost you a hefty sum. Clive Palmer sued for music copyright infringement In 2019, Clive Palmer used the […]

Are you one who likes to invent at work? Imagine you’re at your job and have just come up with a brilliant new innovation. You’ve created a better mousetrap, a breakthrough computer program, a toy that sells millions or perhaps a car that runs on water. Who exactly owns this innovation – you or your […]

With so many new small businesses, cottage industries and start-ups using the internet to promote themselves and sell their products across the globe, it’s important to understand that a trademark infringement on the internet could be very costly. Tiffany & Co issues trademark infringement warning to small Australian business Many small online businesses find themselves […]

A heated legal battle over the yellow lids on peanut butter jars might seem a little crazy to outsiders. But in 2019, two peanut butter manufacturers engaged in a multi-million dollar legal conflict, which had them heading to court over the yellow lids on the jars. The Chicago-based food giant Kraft Heinz was battling Australian […]