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MinterEllison's technology team is consistently ranked as one of the best in the Asia Pacific region. The quality, range and complexity of our technology work ranks second-to-none.
We assist large organisations across industries such as telecommunications, financial services, aviation, energy and resources, the public sector, manufacturing, media and transport to implement cutting edge business IT strategies in Australia, Asia and across the world.
We implement sophisticated large-scale multi-sourcing arrangements; work on significant IT restructuring; advise on mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; and assist clients to monetise captive IT resources.
Over the weekend an unprecedented ransomware attack spread malicious software known as 'WannaCry' around the world. Britain's National Health Service was one of the more high-profile victims, with the service forced to cancel surgery, close emergency rooms and divert ambulances as a result of the attack. And while a British-based, self-confessed 'accidental hero' managed to halt the spread of the WannaCry virus, and Australia appears to have escaped the worst of the fallout, the consequences for business, government and individuals are far from complete, with the Australian Prime Minister's cyber security expert warning 'this is not game over'.
This article examines the key aspects of the Corporations Amendment(Crowd-sourced Funding) Bill 2015, which is a central plank of the government's innovation package announced late last year, and outlines the likely steps towards the establishment of a crowdsourced funding market in Australia.
GST is back on the agenda for the national conversation with the Treasurer confirming at the recent Council on Federal Financial Relations Meeting that GST will be charged on electronic imports into Australia. In this article we look at particular aspects of the approaches taken by South Africa and the EU and consider what lessons their experiences provide for Australia. We also examine whether Australia can impose an electronic services tax on non-residents that have no presence here, and how this could be enforced.
In the wake of the controversial new metadata retention scheme, the Australian Government has committed to further regulation in the form of amendments to the privacy laws to introduce a mandatory data breach notification scheme by the end of the year.
Following a spate of decisions in 2014 on patent licences the Federal Court of Australia announced two further decisions which provide additional guidance to parties to a patent licence. Both of these decisions are a reminder that in addition to contract law, the parties to a licence of Australian patents should consider the relevant provisions of the Patents Act 1990.
Higher education providers are becoming increasingly popular targets for cyber attacks. Many institutions have responded by allocating significant resources and capital towards upgrading and reconfiguring their cyber security infrastructure. We provide a guide to help providers minimise risk.
The risks associated with social media misuse by employees are well publicised. Less known, however, are the risks faced by employers in accessing, using and disclosing the personal information of employees obtained by the employer via social media sites. So, where does the line begin and end? And when can an employer rely on the information to make decisions?
In addition to the 191 Minter Ellison lawyers named in 2014 Best Lawyers Australia list, 23 of our partners have been singled out for an additional accolade – awarded the title of "Lawyer of the Year".
The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) Final Report into Copyright and the Digital Economy (Final Report) is now publicly available, having been tabled in Parliament on 13 February 2014. The report was finalised after receiving more than 1,000 submissions and undertaking more than 100 consultations with stakeholders.
Rapid innovation and convergence in the TMT space in Australia, together with an ever-changing legal and regulatory environment, means that TMT organisations must constantly re-evaluate, and in some cases entirely re-engineer, their business models and strategies. This chapter, contributed by partners Anthony Lloyd, Paul Kallenbach and Paul Schoff, discusses the different laws and regulations that impact the TMT space in Australia.
There is a growing trend in the use of online technology to support teaching and learning by universities. Digital technology has the potential to support and shape a learning environment which is more participatory, personalised and flexible. At the same time, as universities integrate digital technology into traditional models of teaching and learning, there is invariably greater exposure to cybercrimes.
The government has released a discussion paper concerning the employee share scheme administrative and tax arrangements for start-up companies. This is the first major tax policy announcement for the ESS since the 2009 reforms and reflects the government's commitment to growing a robust start-up sector through a review of the regulatory regime.
The Commonwealth Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus QC, yesterday issued Terms of Reference requiring the Australian Law Reform Commission to conduct an inquiry into the prevention of, and remedies for, serious invasions of privacy in the digital era. This latest development is part of the government's second stage response to the recommendations in the ALRC's 2008 Report into reforming the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), together with the recent proposed compulsory data breach notification scheme and the removal of certain exceptions to the Privacy Act.
The High Court of Australia held that Google was not liable for representations made by advertisers in sponsored links on Google's search results pages. The case concludes a five year court battle between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Google Inc. (Google) over misleading representations displayed in sponsored links on Google's search results pages.
As the policy debate rages on the future direction of tertiary education and its institutions, Australian universities are grappling with a raft of regulatory changes that will materially affect their day to day operations.
Cybercrime poses a significant challenge for law enforcement agencies and criminal justice systems across the globe. The borderless nature of the internet makes it easier for cyber attacks to be externally instigated. In response, Australia, together with a number of other nations, has taken steps to harmonise laws intended to combat cyber threats and facilitate greater international cooperation between law enforcement agencies.
Australia's new cybercrime law, which came into force on 1 March 2013, establishes the legislative framework for Australia's accession to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Convention). The essence of the new cybercrime law is to empower Australia's law enforcement and intelligence agencies to compel carriers to preserve the communication records of persons suspected of cyber-based crimes. The new law also expands the Commonwealth cybercrime offences and facilitates international cooperation between State parties to the Convention through the cross-border sharing of communication records.
Minter Ellison partners Anthony Lloyd, Paul Kallenbach and Paul Schoff have authored the Australian chapter of the new edition of Technology, Media and Telecommunications Review (John P Janka ed), published by Law Business Research in October 2012.
On 27 April 2012, the Full Court of the Federal Court allowed an appeal concerning the legality of the Optus TV Now service, which enables users to remotely record television broadcasts and watch them on their computer or handheld device. The Full Court held that Optus made the copies of the programs and consequently infringed copyright in the broadcasts. The decision has implications for providers of cloud storage services.
A report by the Victorian Ombudsman has identified five underlying factors which contributed to difficulties experienced in government ICT projects. The report, Own Motion Investigation into ICT – Enabled Projects, released on 22 November, was prepared in consultation with the Victorian Auditor-General. It examines 10 major Victorian Government ICT projects that experienced difficulties such as budget and timeframe blowouts or failure to meet requirements.
On 12 October 2011 the Hon. Robert McClelland MP, Commonwealth Attorney General, launched a public consultation paper proposing amendments to Part V Division 2AA of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth)to extend the application of the safe harbour scheme to entities providing network access and online services.
Many organisations are transferring non-critical applications to various cloud computing models, whilst still maintaining business critical applications within their current infrastructure. Cloud computing models exist along a spectrum that includes public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds and virtual private clouds (a private cloud existing in a public cloud).
The Federal Government is developing a new media and communications policy framework in Australia, in response to changes in the way consumers use and access television, radio, the internet and telecommunications services. Its newly appointed Convergence Review Committee recently released an Emerging Issues paper, and it plans to conduct public hearings and prepare detailed discussion papers.