Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Cooper Mills launches online Brand Protection Service

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Cooper Mills is proud to announce the launch of its new Brand Protection Service, www.TM.com.au.

Cooper Mills Lawyers, one of Australia’s leading IP, and domain law expert legal practices, today launched version 1.0 of its online brand protection service portal TM.com.au, giving both local and international clients online trademark registration services, and trademark monitoring and management services.

Cooper Mills Lawyers Director Erhan Karabardak said:

In order to meet the demands of both our local and international clients we have launched our online brand protection service, which will enable our clients to effectively monitor their intellectual property all in one convenient place. This service now brings online brand protection within the reach of all local and international businesses.

Cooper Mills expects to expand the product offering and functionality of TM.com.au over the coming months.

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Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Podcasts, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Chinese and .xxx domain names approved

Saturday, June 26th, 2010

The ICANN Board has just approved the release of new IDN ccTLD domain names, while at the same time allowing for the creation of the controversial .xxx domain names.

The IDN ccTLD domain names approved by ICANN are:

• CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center)
• HKIRC (Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited)
• TWNIC (Taiwan Network Information Center).

Speaking during the ICANN 38 meeting, ICANN CEO Rod Beckstrom announced that:

One fifth of the world speaks Chinese and that means we just increased the potential online accessibility for roughly a billion people.

This announcement comes hot on the heels of the recent release of the Russian and Arabic IDN ccTLD, which we announced with great fanfare.

The contraversial .xxx domain was allowed to pass with ICANN saying:

The ICANN board also voted to allow the application for the controversial .XXX top-level domain (TLD) to move forward. The ICM registry applied for the .XXX sponsored top-level domain as a potential community site for the adult entertainment industry. The Board approved a detailed set of next steps for the application, including expedited due diligence, negotiations on a draft registry agreement, and consultation with ICANN’s Governmental Advisory Committee.

The .xxx domain was first mooted in 2000 as a dedicated domain for the Adult industry, but fierce debate from supporters and detractors has raged since then. In 2007 the ICANN Board rejected a proposal to progress the .xxx, but in more recent times members of the ICANN board have expressed support for it, which has resulted in its return as a prominent issue.

Members of the Adult industry had feared that while the .xxx is descriptive of their businesses, that mandatory use of this TLD would isolated Adult websites.

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Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, IT Law, Uncategorized | No Comments »

ACMA determination on premium SMS restrictions

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Consumers will have the choice of barring all premium SMS from their mobile phones as of 1 July 2010, with the latest package of measures announced by the ACMA.

The ACMA has said that the package has been created so that “…mobile users can feel confident they will only receive and pay for services they actually want”.

In a meeting with senior representatives of mobile phone companies the ACMA will discuss the possibility of the introduction of a service where consumers can request quick and easy barring via SMS.

Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman regarding premium SMS services have decreased by an astonishing rate of 50% following measures introduced by ACMA last year. As the ACMA is hoping that this trend will continue, it will be closely monitoring the industry over the next 12 months to ensure that consumer concerns are adequately being dealt with.

Recent enforceable undertakings that the ACMA has accepted from Funmobile Australia Pty Limited, which included a payment of $55 000, emphasize the ACMA’s commitment to pursuing telcos which repeatedly operate in breach of the law.

Industry has welcomed the new package as a further reinforcement of the existing suite of consumer protection measures included in the Communications Alliance Mobile Premium Services Industry Code C637:2009.

Despite both consumers and industry receiving the package with a warm welcome, the telcos will be hit hard. In a quote published by Computer World, Warren Chaisatien, research director and principle analyst at Telstyle, says that although the rule will aid consumers who have unintentionally signed up to a premium services, it is likely to have a negative impact on telco revenues as the premium SMS market was worth approximately $250 million in 2009.

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Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, Trade Practices Law, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Australia gets tough on cybercrime

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010

Australia will strengthen its stance on cybercrime by signing the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.

The move will see Australia join the European Union (EU), the United States, Canada, Japan and South Africa. The EU is pushing for the convention to become an international standard. Twenty-seven countries have so far signed the convention, however, more than 100 are using it to reform domestic laws.

Key points of the convention include:

  • Countries will have a representative available 24 hours a day to assist in investigations and create domestic laws.
  • The promise of greater international cooperation in fighting cybercrime.
  • The charting of criminal offences (offences against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems; computer-related offences including forgery and fraud; content-related offences, including child pornography; and offences related to the infringement of copyright and other related rights).

Australia’s signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime follows our involvement in negotiations for the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and several national cybercrime attacks involving Federal Government websites and sites of major corporations. Signing the convention is one of many initiatives Australia is making to reduce our exposure to cybercrime and other potential cyber risks.

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Posted in General, IT Law, Privacy, Spam, Uncategorized | No Comments »

ACMA issues landmark proceedings

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

In a landmark move, the ACMA has for the first time brought an action in the Federal Court  against Telco GoTalk for an alleged breaches of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006.

The ACMA alleges that GoTalk via its two offshore calls centres called 40,000 numbers contained on the Do Not Call Register.

Breaches of this kind have proven to be costly for infringing companies in the past, with Dodo Australia being issued a fine of $147 400 in 2008 for its call centres ringing 67 de-listed Australian phone numbers.

This isn’t the first sign of trouble for GoTalk. Last year the company accepted undertakings by the ACCC to record telemarketing calls and to monitor conversations at random to ensure compliance with the TPA, in response to allegations that its offshore call centres had misrepresented information to consumers, including pricing and terms and conditions.

The matter is listed for directions on 29 March 2010 in the Federal Court in Sydney.

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Posted in General, ISP and Telco Law, Spam, Uncategorized | No Comments »

GSM Encryption Cracked

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

According to news reports, German researchers claimed to have cracked the A5/1 encryption technology used to encrypt GSM mobile phone calls, which represents approximately 80% of the worlds mobile phone users.

These claims have raised concerns with some mobile operators, who claim that if this finding were to be used by criminals, GSM telephone call could be intercepted and monitored relatively easily and cost effectively. This type of conduct is prohibited under Australian law.

IT and Telecommunications Lawyer, Erhan Karabardak, Principal of Cooper Mills Lawyers, said:

whilst these claims, if true, could pose a serious concern, it is unlikely to pose a threat to GSM communications in the short term“.

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Happy Holidays – Seasons Greetings

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

To all of our clients and visitors to our blog, we wish you seasons greetings and a safe and prosperous new year.

Thank you for your support in 2009, and we look forward to working with you in 2010.

Our office will be re-open on 11 January 2010.

Stay tuned for our new IT Law, Telecommunications Law, Domain Law and general Commercial Law articles / posts.

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Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Podcasts, Privacy, Spam, Trade Practices Law, Uncategorized | No Comments »

New IT Law and Domain Law Posts

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

We are working on bringing you some more new and interesting IT Law and Domain Law posts and articles shortly.

To assist us to cater to our audience, if you have any specific requests for IT Law, Domain Law or Telecommunications Law articles or information, feel free to drop us a note at info@coopermills.com.au

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Posted in Domain law and domaining, General, ISP and Telco Law, IT Law, Podcasts, Privacy, Spam, Trade Practices Law, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Google Announces Next Generation Search Architecture

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Google today announced that it had been working on a secret project to build the next generation of Google’s dominant search engine.

The operating development search engine is accessible at http://www2.sandbox.google.com/.

According to Google:

It’s the first step in a process that will let us push the envelope on size, indexing speed, accuracy, comprehensiveness and other dimensions. The new infrastructure sits “under the hood” of Google’s search engine, which means that most users won’t notice a difference in search results.

Google’s aim at making the developmental search engine available is to gather feedback on the impact the new architecture may have on individual websites.

We have found that the new development search engine ranks our site lower than the existing search engine. The question that naturally arises is whether the next generation of Google’s search engine will rewrite the rules on search engine optimisation – only time will tell….

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ACMA amends mobile phone jammer prohibition

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (‘ACMA’) after a public consultation process has amended the Mobile Phone Jammer Prohibition on 21 January 2009, which now lifts one of the greatest regulatory impediments to allowing in flight mobile telephone use on aircraft.

The amendment was by way of an exemption allowing for the operation of a device if:

a. the device is designed to facilitate a cellular mobile telephone service onboard an aircraft operating within another frequency; and

b. the device is operated for that purpose.

This is a huge step forward, but don’t expect in flight mobile telephone use anytime soon, as the ACMA must first establish radio communications licensing arrangements to facilitate this.

This comes hot on the heels of in flight wireless internet trials in Europe. Watch this space for more Telecommunications Law updates and information.

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