Calderbank Offer or Offer of Compromise?
Both a Calderbank and Offer of Compromise serve the same dual purpose: to provide parties an opportunity to settle proceedings early to save on time and costs and where absent settlement, to protect the offering party by having the offer confidential and protection with costs. In practice a Calderbank Offer and Offer of Compromise have […]
Casual Employees – A Win For Workers
Win For Workers The High Court handed down Judgement that has overturned a Lower Court Judgment on Wednesday, 4 August 2021 that will pave the way for long-term casual workers to be paid leave entitlements. The Federal Court in May 2020 found workers employed on a regular, permanent basis were not casual employees under the […]
Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest can arise in a wide variety of situations – arguably most often regarding charity work, naturally a highly vulnerable and delicate field. It is vital that your organisation has the appropriate processes in place to manage them. ‘I run a small business supplying stationery and my business partner wants to send a […]
Capital Raising: Dollars and Sense
The TV program, Shark Tank, has brought the world of venture capitalism into lounge rooms across Australia. As this article will demonstrate; it is all real: the idealistic inventors, the hard-nosed investors, the unrealistic expectations and the low-ball offers. Taking an idea from the workshop to the market can be frightening. Company founders must know […]
Can You Trademark a Store Design? Apple Wins.
The German Federal Patent Court recently confirmed the decision that the design of the layout of a retail store can potentially be registered as a trademark. In Apple Inc. v Deutsches Patent-und Markenamt, Apple sought to register a representation that it described as “the distinctive design and layout of a retail store” as a trademark. […]
Building Industry Changes
The Shake-Up of Victoria’s Building Industry Continues The latest tranche of changes to the Victorian building industry came into effect on 26 April 2017. The changes mainly relate to the dispute resolution process and significantly widen the avenues of relief available to owners, builders, sub-contractors, architects and other players in the industry. The changes, in […]
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW)
The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (NSW) (‘the Act’) was first introduced in New South Wales in March 1999 and similar legislation has since been adopted by the other states and territories of Australia, most recently South Australia in December 2011. The purpose of this legislation is to ensure that progress […]
Common Start-up Mistakes – A Lesson in Failure
We have all heard the success stories in the startup world, but what about those who don’t quite make it? Unfortunately, the vast majority of start-ups fail, and it is these failures that can teach us valuable lessons. A new website, getautopsy.com, has recently launched which keeps track of many of these failures together in one […]
A Guide to the National Construction Code (NCC)
The National Construction Code (NCC) is a three-volume set of regulations signed by the Commonwealth and adopted by the States and Territories in May 2011. It consolidates building and plumbing regulation across the States and Territories, establishing a national minimum standard. Previously, there was a national standard for building, the Building Code of Australia 1996 […]
A Guide to Standard Construction Contracts
Standard contracts are widely used in the construction industry. They are designed by experts in the field and provide detailed provisions covering the most common issues arising in the industry. Most commonly, standard contracts are used as a base, and are then further amended to reflect the individual needs of the parties. The following article provides […]