In a unanimous decision the Full Federal Court has confirmed that genetic materials in their isolated form remain patentable in Australia The decision related to an appeal from an earlier Federal Court decision in which it was found isolated nucleic acids to be a manner of manufacture as required by ...

Parties involved in large-scale commercial transactions with non-lawyer third-party advisers need to be aware that communications with these advisers will rarely be protected by legal professional privilege following a recent Federal Court decision ...

The Federal Court has recently ruled that there is no requirement for a public benevolent institution to provide direct relief to people in need Its interpretation of the expression public benevolent institution theoretically has the potential to expand eligibility well beyond traditionally accepted ...

In Lend Lease Development Pty Ltd v Commissioner of State Revenue, the Victorian Court of Appeal decided that certain 'development contributions' made by a purchaser to a vendor did not form part of the consideration that 'moved' the transfer of land to the purchaser. ...

Following a decision earlier this year preventing a solicitor from acting in a class action in which the solicitor managed and controlled the representative plaintiff the Victorian Supreme Court has held that a solicitor and senior counsel should be prevented from acting in a class action in which ...

The Federal Government in a surprising and highly significant move for companies in Australia has committed to enacting a mandatory data breach notification scheme before the end of 2015 which will apply to all Australian companies currently subject to the Privacy Act The proposal is not limited to ...

In the past 12 months there have been a number of important decisions of the Queensland Planning and Environment Court that provide an insight into the application of the courts discretion to award costs Special Counsel Rosanne Meurling and Senior Associate Michael Zissis discuss the lessons learned ...

Optus has become the first organisation to enter into an enforceable undertaking with the Privacy Commissioner since reforms to the Privacy Act took effect in March 2014 Partner Michael Pattison and Associate Byron Frost examine the circumstances surrounding Optuss voluntary data breach ...

Two recent trade mark cases have widened the field of marks that are potentially registerable in Australia on the basis that those marks are inherently adapted to distinguish. ...

Our Contract Law Update provides an overview of important contract law decisions by Australian appellate courts in the past 12 months and considers their significance for the development of Australian contract law ...