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News and Insights From Williams Hughes
A general introduction to Safe Harbour
What is safe harbour? A common fear for directors when a company is insolvent or nearing insolvency is their personal liability for debts incurred by the company, if the company continues to trade and then ultimately goes into liquidation. This can lead to the pre-emptive appointment of a v...
Developers and landlords can release their breath – performance bonds and guarantees remain enforceable
In a decision that would otherwise have had serious ramifications, not only in the construction industry but across other industry sectors such as commercial leasing, developers successfully enforced performance and maintenance bonds where the paying financier tried to dodge payment on the basis of ...
Sabacc Strikes Back: Disney’s Latest Star Wars Dispute
US entertainment monolith Disney is once again flexing its legal muscle in order to protect its evergreen Star Wars brand. This time, the dispute is over a concept that was introduced within the story of its Star Wars movies, called “Sabacc”. This obscure Star Wars indicia was first refe...
Buying a power boat for the wife – not necessarily an unreasonable director related transaction, but only in the right circumstances
In 2013 a WA Supreme Court decision may have caught the attention of small company directors; it seemed using the company’s funds to buy that shiny new boat for the wife might not be a voidable transaction or breach of directors’ duties after all… Unfortunately for some, that d...
INDEMNITY COSTS AS THE PRICE OF RELIEF AGAINST FORFEITURE – Reasonableness on the weighing scales
Icechest Corp Pty Ltd v Quan [2017] WASC 345 is probably the latest Australian iteration of the question of who should bear the legal costs of a successful application for relief against forfeiture of a commercial lease. The decision turned on whether the lessor had acted unreasonably in its init...
Are you at legal risk? Changes to the Privacy Act: 22 February 2018
From 22 February 2018 your business has a statutory obligation to report a data breach involving personal information to the Australian Information Commissioner. If this is not handled correctly your business could be at serious risk. Who is subject to the Privacy Act? All businesses and not-f...
The rise of programmers’ colophons – an intuitive moral rights assertion
It seems to be a contemporary trend of website and software developers to include words such as “Powered by…” on the landing page of a website. Many websites go further, and might provide a very detailed list of the website designer, website maintenance team, and even the provider...
“Made in…?”: Country of Origin Labelling Reforms in Australia
Recent changes to the Australian Country of Origin Food Labelling Information Standard 2016 (“CoOL”) was no doubt influenced by the notorious frozen berry scare in Australia in 2015, which allegedly linked a hepatitis A outbreak to imported frozen berries. This generated public interest ...
The Core of the Pink Lady Trade Mark Dispute: High Court of Australia refuses to revisit Apple and Pear Australia Ltd v Pink Lady America LLC [2016] VSCA 280 (23 November 2016)
In April 2017, the High Court of Australia refused special leave to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Victoria. This resolved the long running contractual dispute over the “Pink Lady” trade mark. (It effectively ensures that all use of the “Pink Lad...
Bye, Innovation Patents (and other news): Australian Productivity Commission – The Federal Government Response
The Australian Federal Government’s response to the controversial Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Intellectual Property Arrangements was released on Friday. It deals with the many recommendations made by the Commission. Here are some of the highlights, in so far as they directl...