They're both pirates! At least, that is video production company Nautilus Production's allegation before the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), which has been asked to ponder the copyright in materials relating to Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship belonging to infamous pirate Blackbeard. ...

In this report, teams from 16 countries including Australia have summarised legal and commercial developments in the fintech space for 2019 and looked forward in predicting likely themes in 2020. ...

Data remains one of the most undervalued assets, with most companies still failing to even include it as an asset on their balance sheet. Buyers and sellers who can recognise data assets and properly demonstrate how value can be extracted from them will be best placed for future M&A transactions. ...

The federal law test to assess job applicants with criminal records has changed. It's no longer necessary to show that the criminal record means an applicant is unable to perform the 'inherent requirements' of their role – the question is whether the criminal record is 'relevant' to the role. ...

The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission decided that a crane operator's sacking for a 'significant' safety incident was a fair and proportionate response, despite a working relationship of almost four decades. ...

Furniture retailers fined for false 'was/now' pricing claims; Mazda defends claims of unconscionable conduct and false or misleading representations over faulty vehicles; Unique ordered to pay millions in damages over its funded diploma courses; ACCC presses Google on its policies relating to location data; and ACCC approves ANZ Terminals' acquisition of GrainCorp Bulk Liquid Terminals. ...

Australia's modern slavery reporting regime was introduced one year ago, and 2020 will see the first set of modern slavery statements published by reporting entities. ...

With negotiations underway for the free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union (the A-EU FTA), Australian businesses that produce, buy or sell EU and non-EU food, agricultural goods and spirit drinks have to confront the possibility that Australia will agree to give much stronger protection to the names of hundreds of EU products that indicate their geographical origin. We look at some of the key issues in the EU's proposal that would impact Australian businesses' operations and IP portfolios, and consider some of the agreed compromise positions in the EU's other recent FTAs. ...

Companies should seek to make the most of their intangible assets. One way to do this is to use intellectual property assets as collateral to access funding. IP-rich businesses, SMEs and start-ups should keep this potential avenue in mind. ...

In this update we summarise the progress of existing rule change requests across November 2019 and take a closer look at the AEMC's information paper on digitalisation in the NEM. ...