22nd March 2013
By Tim Gole
July 2010 marked the commencement of the new national unfair terms regime, embodied in the Australian Consumer Law and the ASIC Act. Last week, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a paper summarising the outcomes of its engagement with industry in relation to the regime.
18th March 2013
The Australian Government’s media regulation reform package, introduced into the Federal Parliament on 14 March 2013, has given a prominence to privacy law and Australian news and current affairs journalism which is unusual, unexpected and unprecedented.
12th March 2013
By Peter Waters, Oliver Damian
Are you sick and tired of searching multiple websites and publications to find that piece of telco-related legislation or information you are looking for? We have launched the “Telco Navigator” – an iPad app designed for people working in Australia’s telecommunications industry.
27th February 2013
By Tim Gole, Greg Shinsky
Complex ICT projects regularly involve high degrees of risk, are frequently subject to substantial cost and time overruns and, importantly, often fail to deliver promised benefits. Failed ICT projects in the private sector, particularly in Australia, rarely end in litigation and are rarely subject to public scrutiny. Failed public sector projects, on the other hand, are sometimes subject to auditor-general or similar types of investigations, which provide valuable insights into what went wrong.
17th January 2013
The Australian Government has released its initial limited response to the Convergence Review Committee’s recommendations made in March 2012, addressing free to air television.
14th December 2012
By Tim Gole, Peter Jones
On 11 December 2012, APRA released for consultation its Draft Prudential Practice Guide 235 Managing Data Risk (the Guide). The Guide was released in recognition of data as a key asset for regulated institutions and the need for appropriate data risk management.
23rd August 2012
Yesterday the Senate passed the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill (CB). The CB details a range of legislative amendments to implement Australia’s accession to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.
2nd February 2011
Updated Australian Telecommunications Legislation documentation.
17th November 2010
Click here to listen to Partner Tim Gole discuss the reforms and what they mean for businesses and consumers alike.
25th May 2010
By Peter Waters, Andrew De Celis, Elise Ball
This paper summarises the Australian Government’s recently released Implementation Study regarding the multi-billion National Broadband Network (NBN) project. Gilbert + Tobin’s team have condensed and analysed the Implementation Study into an easy-to-read 25 page document.
19th May 2010
In this article, we provide a summary of some recent developments in mobile spectrum in Australia. This article was published in the May 2010 edition of Communications Law published by the International Bar Association.
30th July 2009
By Peter Jones, Peter Leonard, Tim Gole
A recent case handed down by a US District Court provides a timely reminder about the importance of properly crafting, and of diligently adhering to, software licence terms. Carefully drafted terms can increase the chance of a licence breach amounting to copyright infringement (which can often attract more substantial damages), instead of (or in addition to) a mere breach of contract.
30th June 2009
On 16 June the UK Government published The Digital Britain Report, its strategic vision for ensuring that the UK is at the leading edge of the global digital economy. The Report is one of the central policy commitments in the Government`s Building Britain`s Future plan and draft legislative programme. Gilbert + Tobin lawyers Peter Waters, Richard Pascoe, Shreeya Muthusamy, Barron Koo and Korolyn Rouhani-Arani provide a summary for our communications and broadcast clients.
19th February 2009
By Peter Jones, Simon Snow, Luke Woodward, Tim Gole
On 17 February 2009, the Assistant Treasurer released the Federal Government`s consultation paper on some of the most significant consumer law reform in Australia`s history. The consultation paper, An Australian Consumer Law, is one of the final steps towards establishing a uniform national consumer law to replace the current State, Territory and Federal consumer laws that operate under various fair trading legislation and the Trade Practices Act 1974 respectively.
12th February 2009
By Peter Jones, Peter Leonard, Tim Gole
In November 2008, the Commonwealth Attorney-General`s Department – in collaboration with the States and Territories – released a consultation paper on the Australian Government`s proposal to accede to the United Nations Convention on the Use of Electronic Communications in International Contracts (the Convention). For Australia to accede to the Convention, it needs to make changes to its domestic electronic transactions laws.
5th December 2008
Gilbert + Tobin Consultant Rob Nicholls and Lawyer Michelle Rowland recently addressed the 2007 Social Implications of National Security Workshop, which brought together some of Australia`s pre-eminent minds on the issues of privacy and surveillance legal, social and technical issues. This was a great platform for Rob and Michelle to present their paper on the legalities of recent amendments to Australia`s interception and access powers for stored communications, which was very well received by the conference.
26th September 2008
The popularity of user generated content (UGC) has seen large numbers of Australian companies incorporate interactive features into their marketing and distribution platforms to give their consumers a voice. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) tipped UGC sites as one of the `Six Top Trends` over the coming five to ten years.
17th September 2008
By Peter Leonard, Deborah Johns, Andrew De Celis, Ken Saurajen
Gilbert + Tobin invites you to join discussions on innovation through our blog – Gilbert + Tobin on Innovation. The blog will examine innovation both here in Australia and overseas. We hope it will become a lively and useful forum highlighting key issues of importance to business, industry and Government.
21st August 2008
By Peter Leonard, Peter Waters, Sarah Alderson, Moya Dodd
The report recently released by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) – For Your Information: Australian Privacy Laws and Practice (Report) dedicated considerable attention to the interaction between the existing privacy and telecommunications regimes.
11th August 2008
By Dianne Banks, Peter Leonard, Sarah Alderson
This morning (11 August 2008) the Federal Government publicly released the report of the review of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) of Australia`s privacy laws.
7th August 2008
By Dianne Banks, Peter Leonard, Sarah Alderson
On Monday 11 August 2008, the Federal Government is expected to make public the report of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) into reform of Australia`s privacy laws.
5th August 2008
By Peter Waters
The Internet may be facing a conundrum – just as network capacity is increasing, many network operators are grappling with network congestion. Increased bandwidth has coincided with two content trends – the popularity of peer-to-peer technology (P2P) and the explosion of Web 2.0 applications and business. Jim Cicconi, AT&T`s Vice-President, recently claimed that, based on its current Internet architecture, the Internet would reach its capacity by 2010 thanks to what he described as an `unprecedented wave in broadband traffic.`[1] Even those who doubt A&T`s claim, [2] accept that there is significant last mile congestion currently due to network traffic increases. [3]
17th April 2008
By Bernadette Jew, Peter Leonard, Sheila McGregor, Ken Saurajen
Over the last ten or so years in Australia, `indirect or consequential loss` has come to be commonly equated with loss of the kind described in the second limb of Hadley v Baxendale – that is, losses contemplated by the parties, at the time of making the contract, as the probable result of its breach. It has also been accepted that while losses such as loss of revenue, profit, business, opportunity, goodwill and data might typically be considered to be `consequential`, there would be circumstances in which they (or a component of them) might be direct loss.
