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The importance of keeping accurate employment records business employee rights employment law Nov 18, 2019

In order to make a claim for unfair dismissal, one of the pre-conditions to be satisfied is that the employee must have served the statutory minimum employment period – for those engaged by a “small business employer”, the minimum period is 12 months.  For others, it is 6 months.

A small business e...

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Is your Heads of Agreement certain enough to be enforceable? business business agreements heads of agreement lease Nov 07, 2019

A Heads of Agreement (also known as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Letter of Intent (LOI)) is a document outlining the proposed agreement between the parties to it. There are a number of commercial situations where a Heads of Agreement will be commonly prepared between the parties – for exam...

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Warranty against defects for services australian consumer law business warranty Oct 25, 2019

As of June 2019 the Australian Consumer Law (‘ACL’) has additional requirements for those businesses who provide a Warranty Against Defects for services (‘WAD’) in the provision of either:

  • Services; or
  • Goods with services.

What is a WAD?

This is a representation to consumers that if the good...

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Can a bikini style name infringe a Trade Mark? business intellectual property trademarks Oct 18, 2019

Can a bikini-style name infringe a trademark? This is an issue which the Federal Court of Australia addressed in a 2019 decision involving Pinnacle Runway.

The parties

  • Pinnacle Runway Pty Ltd (“Pinnacle”) designs, manufactures, supplies and sells women’s clothing in Australia and overseas under
  • ...
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When the same slogan is used by different businesses business intellectual property supreme court trademarks Oct 03, 2019

The Supreme Court has struck out a claim made by Ms Annika Karlsson in which she alleged that Griffith University had breached her trademark registration of the slogan “Know more. Do more.” The Court’s decision can be read here.

Registering the trademark – by both businesses

Griffith University fi...

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The significance of pre-contract negotiations business contract law debt recovery oral contracts startup business supreme court Jul 10, 2019

The difficulties associated with a partly oral and partly written contract were considered by the Supreme Court in an April 2019 decision involving the Fields Group, a security company based on the Central Coast with approximately 120 security guards, and the much larger Wilson Security, with approx...

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Restraints of trade in contracts of employment business employment law restraint of trade May 07, 2019

Restraints of Trade, often included in contracts of employment, are a valuable tool for employers to ensure that their commercial and competitive interests are preserved after the employee/employer relationship ends. However, it is important if you intend to include a restraint, that it be enforceab...

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Dissolving a business partnership in the absence of a partnership agreement business business agreements partnership agreements May 06, 2019

The Supreme Court made orders in 2017 regarding the winding up of a partnership that operated a real estate agency.  The two former partners agreed upon the existence and duration of their partnership, and upon a need for partnership accounts to be taken under the supervision of the Court, but they ...

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The importance of following proper processes for making a Statutory Declaration business estates litigation notary public property statutory declaration May 02, 2019

As lawyers and Justices of the Peace, we are often asked to witness signatures on important documents such as Statutory Declarations.  As authorised witnesses, we must ensure that we comply with the witnessing requirements as set out in the Oaths Act for a number of reasons, otherwise we risk being ...

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What's in a name? The use and significance of a business name and pitfalls for business operators business business name business sale purchasing property startup business May 01, 2019

The first steps often taken by business owners in establishing their business are:

  • to obtain an Australian Business Number (‘ABN’) and
  • to register their business name through the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (‘ASIC’).

Under the Business Names Registration Act 2011 (Cth) (‘th...

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Was the kiss in the contract? business contract law intellectual property Jan 16, 2019

You may recall reading a few years ago about the wedding photographer who was sued by the bride and groom because, amongst other things, he missed photographing the all important first kiss.

Whilst the photographer’s fee for the day was $2,700, the disappointed bride and groom refused to pay the re...

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Sham contracting – are your independent contractors really employees? And entitled to be paid as such? business employee rights employment law sham contracting Nov 13, 2018

Section 357(1) of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) states that an employer must not represent that a contract of employment is a contract for services under which the individual performs work as an independent contractor, otherwise the employer is at risk of the employee seeking Court orders for the pay...

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