Significant increases to Competition and Consumer Law penalties proposed
Last Friday afternoon, Treasury released exposure draft legislation proposing significant increases to the maximum penalties that apply to various contraventions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) by companies and individuals. Interested parties will have to be quick with any comments on the proposed changes, because public consultation […]
ReadmoreA change in Government may put the brakes on Australia’s support of AI and ADM? Or perhaps not?
The recent change to Australia’s Government will likely see a raft of changes. Of particular interest is whether and to what extent the new Labor Government will embrace artificial intelligence (or AI) and automated decision making (or ADM). You will recall the release of the former Coalition government’s Digital Economy Strategy (Strategy) in Budget 2021-2022. […]
ReadmoreAdvertising under the influencers and changes to the TGA Code: Are you ready for 1 July 2022?
We are in a transition period in the world of therapeutic goods advertisements (TG Advertisements). Currently, TG Advertisements must comply with either the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code (No.2) 2018 (Cth) (Former Code) or the Therapeutic Goods (Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code) Instrument 2021 (Cth) (New Code). The transition period ends on 30 June 2022. A caveat […]
ReadmorePushing ‘START’ on button battery safety standards – Combating a danger lurking in the household
The new button/coin battery safety standards become mandatory on 22 June 2022. So as a manufacturer, importer, wholesaler or retailer of products that contain button batteries, what do you need to know? Purpose Button batteries are used in a broad range of products around our homes. These include watches, handheld computers and remote controls, key […]
ReadmoreFMCG Express | March 2022 Edition
Welcome to the fifth edition of FMCG Express. Overseen by our new Editor, Partner Breanna Davies, Gadens’ team of contributors provide a snapshot of what’s in store for 2022. We are catching up on issues facing our clients and review potential legal developments in the FMCG space: from analysis of proposed changes to the unfair […]
ReadmoreHow to infringe the Privacy rights of millions of Australians with a few clicks… a cautionary tale by Big Brother and his friends
On 14 October 2021, the Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner determined that by using its facial recognition platform to crawl the web to scrape biometric information from various sources on the internet and disclose it through its software, Clearview AI, had breached the privacy rights of millions of Australians.[1] Clearview AI has been described […]
ReadmoreFMCG Express | September 2021 Edition
The first half of the year brought signs that the business malaise post-COVID-19 was beginning to lift, however, we are seeing ongoing disruption facing the FMCG sector. We are finally seeing some green shoots with the end of lockdown on the horizon. In this edition, the team explores the evolution of the digital consumer experience; […]
ReadmoreDirect ‘.au’ domain names are coming. Threat or opportunity?
After being on the cards for several years, the administrator of the .au country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD), au Domain Administration Limited (auDA), has recently announced the launch of .au direct registrations in the ‘second level’ (e.g. gadens.au) effective from 24 March 2022. Separately, the Australian Government is currently reviewing the terms on which it […]
Readmore‘A reasonable and commercial construction?’ Patent time extensions after Ono Pharmaceuticals
The Federal Court of Australia has ordered the Commissioner of Patents to grant Bristol Myer Squibb (BMS) a patent term extension (PTE) for cancer drug Opdivo until 2031, providing certainty to industry around Australia’s intellectual property regime. Background BMS and Ono Pharmaceutical sought judicial review by the Federal Court of Australia after the Australian Patents […]
ReadmoreNew wave of litigation expected to hit Australia’s eroding shoreline
Last week, the Federal Court of Australia embarked on what is predicted to be a landmark decision, in the matter of AGL v Greenpeace Australia Pacific (Greenpeace). The case involves allegations by AGL that Greenpeace infringed its trademark rights and copyright when it featured AGL’s logo in a recent ad campaign, designed to pressure the […]
ReadmoreFMCG Express | May 2021 Edition
2021 certainly started with a bang; we are seeing a significant boost in appetite for advice right across our FMCG client base, including a lot of M&A activity, and we are excited to see how the year ahead unfolds. In the May 2021 edition of FMCG Express, editor Hazel McDwyer and the Gadens team provide […]
ReadmoreKraft v Bega – Key intellectual property and contractual takeaways for transactions
Since our coverage of the Kraft vs. Bega battle in our September 2019 edition of FMCG Express, the battle between food giants Bega and Kraft made it all the way to the High Court of Australia! The High Court recently refused special leave to appeal by Kraft, ultimately ruling in favour of Bega and upholding […]
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