Stephens Lawyers and Consultants Trade Mark Legal Update: October 2013 Under Australian law there is no legal requirement to register a trade mark or brand name to use it, however there are many benefits of trade mark registration. Although protection against misrepresentation under Australian Consumer Law1 and passing off is available to both owners of… Read More
Read moreStephens Lawyers & Consultants Newsletter: July 2013 Recent decisions of the Victorian Supreme Court involving publication of defamatory material in the online environment indicate that the court will award significant damages for reputational damage. Websites, blogs, emails and social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram all provide businesses, non-for-profit organisations and individuals with the… Read More
Read moreStephens Lawyers & Consultants Legal Update: July 2013 The ACCC continues to target the energy sector for possible false or misleading representations made by businesses that relate price rises with the impact of the carbon price. In the first 100 days since the commencement of the carbon price on 1 July 2012 the ACCC received… Read More
Read moreAustralian Consumer Law, Businesses & the Carbon Price Stephens Lawyers & Consultants Legal Update: May 2013 Businesses should be aware that the Government has provided the ACCC with $12.8 million over the next four years in an effort to counter possible false and misleading representations in relation to the Carbon Pricing System.1 The Clean Energy… Read More
Read moreStephens Lawyers & Consultants Legal Update: January 2013 Federal Court rules that the ‘corporate world should know that it is wrong to engage in … deceptive business practices and doing so will incur the risk of large penalties’ Business should be aware that there are significant penalties that attach to offences under the Australian Consumer… Read More
Read moreThe new Personal Property Security Register is particularly relevant to franchise businesses. This update provide an overview of the complex law with regards to franchises business [read more].
Read moreThe Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) (PPS) came in affect on 30 January 2012 and introduced an Australia-wide legislative scheme for registering and enforcing all personal property securities. It replaces the State based registers with a single national electronic PPS register. This update provides an overview of the Act and its application to business,… Read More
Read moreSince the expansion of the ACCC’s enforcement powers on 1 January 2011 under the Australian Consumer Law reforms, the ACCC now possesses extensive audit powers to monitor compliance with industry codes prescribed under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Currently, four industry codes are prescribed under this legislation, including: the Franchising Code, the Horticulture Code,… Read More
Read moreThe recent Federal Court decision in relation to the Metcash and Franklins proposed acquisition, highlights the commercial challenges that companies or businesses will face, if the competition regulator, the ACCC, refuses the merger/acquisition clearance and takes legal action to restrain the acquisition. This update provides a summary of the Federal Court decision, ACCC v Metcash,… Read More
Read moreAustralia’s new consumer law regime, implemented under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, introduced a comprehensive new framework of statutory consumer guarantees, which came into operation on 1 January 2011. This update provides an overview of the new consumer guarantees regime, discusses the impact of the Australian Consumer Law Regulations on businesses, and outlines the… Read More
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