A US Court has ordered Twitter to produce electronic records of three Twitter account holders to the United States Government as part of the criminal investigation into WikiLeaks, Jullian Assange and Bradley Manning. The case raises interesting questions as to how far the First Amendment (freedom of speech) and Fourth Amendment (privacy) rights extend in the world of social media. read more »
Last month, the Parliamentary Secretary for Health & Ageing released a Report into ways of improving the transparency of the Therapeutic Goods Administration. The Report found that the TGA could improve the way it communicates with industry, consumers and healthcare practitioners and made 21 recommendations to this effect. read more »
The Victorian Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a claim for breach of confidence brought against Incitec Pivot by former leasing consultants, MMFC. In striking out the plaintiff's claim, which was commenced in July 2008, Justice Croft found that MMFC had failed to identify or define information capable of protection as confidential information. read more »
Painaway Australia v JAKL Group both confirms and undermines the value of exclusively licensing trade secrets and provides some painful lessons in drafting IP licences. read more »
In Blackmagic Design Pty Ltd v Overliese the Full Court of the Federal Court was recently asked to consider the legal remedies available to an employer in the event that his or her employee appropriates confidential information for the purposes of establishing a competitor business. read more »
In December last year, Justice Emmett of the Federal Court handed down an important decision for originator pharmaceutical companies who seek access to documents evidencing applications to list generic versions of their products on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG), and generic companies who assume such applications are kept confidential.
read more »When Prince William proposed to Kate Middleton, he renewed his vows to protect her privacy. But what protections from the paparazzi will the soon-to-be Princess have if she visits her Australian relatives? read more »
Kozinski CJ of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has won IP Whiteboard’s inaugural “Judgment of the Year” for a fantastic dissertation on the ongoing wars between Mattel and MGA Entertainment over ownership of the "bratty-doll idea". read more »
Following on from the Chinese State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission's decision to release guidance on what constitutes a "commercial secret", the National People’s Congress has amended the PRC Law on State Secrets, a much more significant piece of legislation. The amendments narrow considerably the definition of state secrets. Mallesons' Nicolas Groffman examines the changes and their implications for anyone exchanging information with Chinese entities here.
In the wake of the Stern Hu/Rio Tinto case, the Chinese State Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has released guidance on what constitutes a "commercial secret". Mallesons' Nicolas Groffman examines the implications of this guidance for Australians investing in China here.