In brief: A landmark decision recently handed down by the UK Supreme Court has found that there was no justification to continue to give expert witnesses immunity from being sued for negligence in relation to the evidence they give in court or the views that they express in anticipation of court proceedings. The court did not accept that potential liability would result in reluctance on the part of experts to accept instructions, nor would it prevent them from exercising their overriding duty to the court and acting with diligence and integrity. Partner Michael Quinlan (view CV) and Senior Associate Joanne Howie* report.

• Background
• The decision of the Supreme Court
• The reasons for the decision
• No immunity for UK advocates
• The Australian position
• Comment

Reproduced with permission of Allens Arthur Robinson and in accordance with their terms of use.

In brief: The Full Court of the Federal Court has rejected the appeal from an earlier decision that found Men At Work’s hit song Down Under infringed the copyright in the popular folk tune Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. EMI’s liability for the authorisation of infringement is yet to be determined. Partner Miriam Stiel (view CV) and Law Graduate Tracy Lu report on this latest decision.

• Background
• The decision
• Reproduction of ‘substantial part’
• Authorisation

Reproduced with permission of Allens Arthur Robinson and in accordance with their terms of use.

In this issue: Our intellectual property lawyers and patent and trade marks attorneys provide an update on the latest cases and legislative developments regarding copyright, trade marks, patents and anti-counterfeiting.

• Copyright
  • There is no copyright in this headline
  • YouTube finds safe harbo(u)r in US copyright law
  • ISPs in the spotlight again: iiNet copyright infringement appeal
• Trade Marks
  • The ‘Luscious Lips’ decision: sweet lessons for product labelling
  • To co-exist or not to co-exist? The Omega case
• Patents
  • Something fishy about a ‘stunning’ patent decision?
  • Invention commercialisation system not patentable subject matter in Australia
• Anti-conterfeiting
  • Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement close to being finalised
• Our IP Partners

Reproduced with permission of Allens Arthur Robinson and in accordance with their terms of use.

In November 2009, we reported on the Government’s progress with respect to its reform of the freedom of information regime. As part of its 2007 election policy, the Government announced that it would reform the FOI landscape with the main objective to promote a pro-disclosure culture across the Government and building a stronger foundation for more openness in government. As part of this project, the Government introduced the Information Commissioner Bill 2010 (IC Bill) and the Freedom of Information Amendment (Reform) Bill 2010 (FOI Bill) into Parliament last November 2010.

Read more of the article by Norton Rose.

Reproduced with permission of Norton Rose in accordance with their legal notice and disclaimers.