A number of industries and issues are in the spotlight following release of the ACCC's 2020 Enforcement and Compliance Priorities by Chairman Rod Sims on 25 February. ...

Patent offices in the UK and Europe, UKIPO and EPO have rejected Stephen Thaler's DABUS application naming artificial intelligence as inventors. Both patent offices found that DABUS, being a machine, could hold no rights and could not transfer any rights as the inventor to the applicant as successor ...

This Insight examines the consequences of a patent dispute concerning a patent for a 'fence plinth'. This dispute highlights some of the key elements of any patent dispute such as how meaning of ordinary terms in the patent must be understood in the context of the whole patent specification. ...

Papua New Guinea has proposed a new regime for domestic and international arbitrations: the Arbitration Bill 2019. If enacted, it has the potential to provide greater certainty for arbitrations in PNG, and the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards within PNG. ...

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 insight exams ASIC's proposals on on the new mortgage broker best interests duty. A new duty has been created for mortgage brokers to act in the best interests of consumers where there is a conflict when providing credit assistance. ...

This case affirms the principle that the question of whether personal performance of a contract is required is one of construction of the contract, and that personal performance may be required even in circumstances where performance of the contract requires no specific personal skill. ...

In this case, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered the terms of a conditional contract for the sale of land, and whether the purchaser's 'step-in' right qualified the vendor's right to rescind ...

In this case, the NSWCA considered the nature and extent of the doctrine that a government or public authority may not fetter the future exercise of discretionary powers reposed in the executive or a public authority. ...

The ability to enter into, and enforce, contracts with governments is complicated by the principle that governments cannot fetter the future exercise of their discretionary powers (known as the 'fettering doctrine'). ...