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Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ CategoryPrivacy Awareness Week 2011Monday, May 2nd, 2011 Cooper Mills Lawyers is once again proud to partner with the The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to promote Privacy Awareness Week 2011. Privacy Awareness Week was launched today, with the aim of encouraging people to exercise their privacy rights and to take steps to make sure their personal information is handled in accordance with the law. As part of Privacy Awareness Week, The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has timetabled a week of events as follows:
 Tags: IT Law, lawyers, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Privacy Law, Privacy Lawyers, Telecommunications Lawyers Business Sales – what to watch out forTuesday, February 15th, 2011 Business sales are part of most succession plans, and getting it right can make the world of difference. Most small business owners engage the services of a licensed real estate agent or licensed business broker. This is usually the first and only dealing with a business broker or agent. Key issues that you should consider when dealing with a business broker / agent: Term of Appointment All contracts with business brokers and agents will have a minimum period of appointment, with an additional period called a continuing period after this time. You should consider appointing an agent for a set period with no additional or continuing period, this will make your agent work harder and will help you avoid being locked into a relationship which isn’t working. Commissions Business brokers and agents almost always charge their commission on a variable basis, for example 5% of the sale price, but often charge additional fees / charges. You should be clear to find out, before signing an agreement, whether this is the total of the agent or business broker’s fee, or whether there are additional advertising and retainer fees payable. If you don’t ask this question, it can be a costly mistake. Remember, you can negotiate, you may offer a lower commission with an incentive payment where the broker/agent achieves target sale price – it pays to shop around. It’s not always about the commission, do your research, to make sure the agent you pick is selling. Contracts Finally when you find a buyer and the deal is ready to be done, you need to sign a contract of sale of business (and in some cases a share sale agreement). Many business brokers and agents use a standard form document, while these documents are generally suitable for a very small number of businesses, they can’t always address the complexities of each individual sale. You should never rely on a business broker or agent to prepare a contract for you, lawyers commonly see a number of mistakes that business brokers and agents make, for example:
Before you sell your business you should always speak to your lawyers and accountants to obtain the right advice – and before you appoint and broker/agent do your homework. Tags: business sale, commercial lawyers, contract law, lawyers, small business More Posts Coming SoonTuesday, December 7th, 2010 We have more IT Law, Domain Law and Telecommunications Law posts coming soon. Watch this space. Tags: domain law, domain name law, IT Law, IT Lawyer, IT Lawyers, telecommunications law ACMA to review numbering planMonday, October 25th, 2010 The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has launched an issues paper, to examine whether the numbering plan and the way telephone numbers are used remain appropriate. The increasing use of voice over IP (VOIP) and mobile telephones have forced a rethink on telephone numbering. In announcing the launch of the issues paper, the ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman said:
The ACMA has called for comments on the issues paper by 3 December 2010. The issues paper is available from the ACMA website here. Tags: ACMA, Telecommunications Lawyers, VOIP Fixed Line Wholesale Pricing Under ReviewSaturday, September 18th, 2010 The Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) has released a draft report into the pricing model of fixed line telephony services, proposing radical price reductions, which is likely to see Telstra’s fixed line revenues fall even further. The ACCC has suggested a move away from the traditional wholesale pricing model based Retail Price less Retail Cost, instead the ACCC has suggested an alternative model:
The new model has suggested an across the board charge of $20 per month for line rental down from the two consumer and business rates that exist, while the ACCC has suggested a reduction of wholesale local call costs from 17c to 7c, a massive drop, which is likely to anger Telstra. Below we have extracted the draft pricing for the period 2011 to 2014: Draft indicative pricesFor ULLS services, the Bands relate to different geographical areas.
Tags: ACCC, Declared Service, telecommunications law, telecommunications lawyer, Wholesale Call Costs Cooper Mills launches online Brand Protection ServiceFriday, 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:
Cooper Mills expects to expand the product offering and functionality of TM.com.au over the coming months. Tags: brand protection, domain name registration, trademark, trademark law, trademark registration, www.tm.com.au Chinese and .xxx domain names approvedSaturday, 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:
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 .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. Tags: domain law, domain lawyer, domain name law, domain name lawyer, ICANN, IT Lawyer, technology lawyer ACMA determination on premium SMS restrictionsWednesday, 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. Tags: ACMA, isp law, ISP Lawyers, Premium SMS, telco lawyer, telecommunications law, Telecommunications Lawyers, telo lawyers Australia gets tough on cybercrimeTuesday, 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:
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. Tags: Cyber Law, IT Law, IT Lawyer, IT Lawyers ACMA issues landmark proceedingsTuesday, 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. Tags: ACMA, Do Not Call Register, Do Not Register Call Act, GoTalk, ISP lawyer, ISP Lawyers, IT Lawyers, telecommunications lawyer, Telecommunications Lawyers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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