In a world of tech start-ups and innovation, securing IP rights has never been so important. The question of 'who owns what?' continues to present issues even to Apple Inc, as employees branch out to capitalise on creativity. Apple's recent claim against a former employee is a timely reminder of the ...

Record levels of capital and a turning market for Australia. It's a new decade for private equity (PE) in Australia. After a drop in activity in 2019, we expect both buyside and exit activity levels to pick up considerably in 2020. ...

A recent Federal Court decision imposed significant pecuniary penalties on a franchisor as well as its sole director and national franchising manager for unfair dealings with franchisees ...

For project finance deals, Allens was ranked top legal advisor in Australia and New Zealand, for both deal value and volume, in Inframation's league tables. For the second year running, the firm ...

It is critical that listed entities understand how COVID-19 is likely to impact their businesses and are prepared to make necessary disclosures to the ASX. To date, the majority of ASX-listed entities have not made any disclosure in relation to COVID-19. In this update we have set out a number of scenarios that should be considered by listed clients as part of the proper and ongoing assessment of the need for disclosure under the ASX Listing Rules. ...

In this update we summarise the progress of existing rule change requests across December 2019 and January 2020 and take a closer look at the Federal Government's proposed offshore clean energy infrastructure regulatory framework. ...

If passed, the Mineral and Energy Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 (Qld) (Bill), introduced in the Queensland Parliament on 4 February 2020, will create industrial manslaughter offences in the Queensland resources industry. ...

New legislation will, if passed, introduce a suite of reforms aimed at mitigating the risks of Queensland resources projects not being rehabilitated, which also have major implications for the sales of such projects. The changes' wide-ranging impact includes tighter criteria for tenement applicants and transferees, and introducing an ability for tenement conditions to be adjusted following a change of control of tenement holders. In particular, potential tenement applicants and purchasers should consider initial due diligence on people and entities that may be considered their associates, so they are prepared to defend any decision in relation to potential disqualification. ...

This latest guide looks at developments at the end of last year and the beginning of 2020. It covers: Brexit and the transition, final-form recommendations for audit and auditor reform, new stewardship obligations for investors, tougher new anti-money laundering rules, FRC guidance for this year's annual reports and Section 172 statements, the extension of the FCA's Senior Manager regime, market abuse, ESG and climate, private equity reporting, transparency of ownership of UK real estate and late payment. ...

As part of the CDR rollout, as of 6 February 2020 the Big 4 banks are now required to disclose certain types of product data following a request, with the first types of consumer data to be shared from 1 July 2020. ...