Adsense HTML

Changes to Laws In Australia involving licensing software to consumers

Have a look at the Mallesons blog.

Who does this affect?

The new laws raise issues for all software licences with Australian end-customers where either:

  • the software is "of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption"; or
  • the amount paid or payable for the software is $A40,000 or less.

Those end-customers are taken to be "consumers" by the ACL, even if they are multinational corporations or government entities well-equipped to negotiate to protect their interests.

Software Licensing

Is the software installed on your computer something you own -- or did you simply buy a "license" to use it? That's the issue at the heart of Vernor v. Autodesk Inc., a case argued Monday before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that represents a broad challenge to the software industry's fundamental business model.

U.S. Patent Office Guidelines for patentable subject matter

See article at this U.S. law firm website.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) published Interim Guidance on 27 July 2010, for evaluating method claims for subject-matter eligibility under § 101 of the Patent Act. This guidance follows the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bilski v. Kappos.

Manifesto on internet policy and regulation

The IIA recently launched its "manifesto on internet policy and regulation, with principles and recommendations to guide decision making".


A PDF copy of the guide is available at

http://iia.net.au/images/resources/pdf/manifesto-2010.pdf


"We'll be requesting political parties to respond to its recommendations over the coming weeks," IIA chief executive, Peter Coroneos, said.


"It asks the question, under what circumstances can the Internet in Australia be advanced or hobbled by politicians today."


The report argues that the speed of technological change

outstrips the ability of legislation and legislators to keep up.


"Should or can they, regulate the internet to tackle social

policy challenges arising in the wake of rapid technological

change without damaging our capacity to innovate and compete?

If laws are passed, can they be enforced?


Is technology to blame or are we really dealing with age old

human problems that neither laws nor technology can regulate?


These are questions implicit in this document," Coroneos said.


The document offers a reality check to the internet policy debate by urging a return to first principles such as where Australia stands against our western counterparts. It argues we tend to over-regulated in content matters for often symbolic political reasons.


"We lack a local research base to support proposals notably in areas of cyber crime and cyber safety," he said.



Last Class

The last class is Monday night, 31 May.
The class will go for about an hour, then we may go for a drink/pizza etc.
In this class, I can answer any questions that you may have.
We will also discuss legal issues concerning eBay and (if time) Facebook.
Please read:

eBay - reimbursement re bankruptcy of seller

Have a look at:
in light of

Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo

Facebook, MySpace Messages Are Protected: Judge

A district judge has reversed a magistrate judge's ruling that fashion house Christian Audigier Inc. can subpoena the Facebook Inc. and MySpace Inc. communications of an artist who sued the designer for copyright infringement, finding that messages on the social networking sites are protected information.

Yahoo, Facebook Back Google In YouTube IP Case

Facebook Inc., eBay Inc., IAC/InterActiveCorp and Yahoo Inc. have urged a federal judge to rule against Viacom International Inc. in its copyright lawsuit against Google Inc. over video-sharing website YouTube Inc., arguing that a victory for Viacom in the case would hurt online commerce.


Communications Law to be Reviewed

Two top Democratic legislators said Monday that they would begin a process to modernize telecommunications laws that were last overhauled in 1996 but barely mention the Internet.

How should damages be assessed for privacy and cybersecurity breaches

Listen to this podcast where I discuss how damages should be assessed in privacy and cybersecurity lawsuits. The Lawyers Weekly Show host J...