Edwards and Co Legal

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The Rise of the AI Deities: As Thorny Issues Cluster – Part 2

Led by OpenAI poster child, ChatGPT, in a matter of months, hundreds of millions of individuals across the globe have been activated to the...

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Corporate + Commercial

SAFE Notes: Are these Once Strange Things Suitable For Your Next Investment?

Once regarded as one of the investment community’s ‘stranger things’, SAFE Notes occupy the twilight zone between the usual binary alternatives...

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business, business law, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, Corporations, corporations act

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The Rise of the AI Deities: As Thorny Issues Cluster – Part 1

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Artificial Intelligence, Copyright, copyright act, Data, Data Breach, Digital Innovation, Disruptive, intellectual property, Metaverse, Personal Data, Privacy

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ChatGPT – Challenges to Ownership and Protection of IP in the Era of the AI Deities

As 2022 drew to a close, OpenAI released a public iteration of its web-based, machine-learning chatbot program, ChatGPT, and quickly garnered 100...

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Artificial Intelligence, Copyright, copyright act, Digital Innovation, intellectual property, ip, Metaverse, ownership

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AI Art Selfies: Some IP and Privacy concerns with the latest social trend

A recent ripple spreading rapidly through social media is an AI art app that creates stylised avatars based on selfies. The Lensa AI app was...

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Artificial Intelligence, Copyright, copyright act, Data, Digital, Digital Innovation, intellectual property, Media, ownership, social media

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Directors IDs: Just how personal is this 15-digit identifier?

Nearly 2.7 million Australian Directors have submitted their personal information to the Australian Business Registry Service to apply for a Director...

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business, business law, corporate law, Corporations, Data, Data Breach, Directors Duties, Hacking, Personal Data, Personal Information, Privacy

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Is SaaS / cloud-based software subject to export compliance rules in Australia?

Software as a Service (SaaS) technologies have disrupted and transformed the way many businesses deliver software enabled products and services to...

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business, commercial law, Data, Digital Innovation, Disruptive, intellectual property

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Huge Fines for Businesses with Unfair Terms

With effect from 9 November 2022, new laws came into effect which amended the Australian Consumer Law to introduce very serious penalties for...

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business, Data, Data Breach, Hacking, Law Reforms, Personal Information, Privacy

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Time to break out your Data Breach Response Plan: After more large-scale breaches, major changes are destined for Australian law

The September 2022 Optus data breach served as a wake-up call for the Australian government and businesses alike, driving rapid reforms to the...

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Data, Data Breach, Digital, EU, Personal Data, Personal Information, Privacy

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Post Optus Data Breach | Is Your Company’s Data Secure? How to Avoid Serious Harm to Your Business

In September 2022, millions of Australian Optus customers had their data hacked, causing widespread concerns of identity fraud. Optus,...

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business, commercial law, Corporations, Data, Data Breach, Hacking, Media, optus, Personal Data, Personal Information, Privacy

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Corporate Law+ | Sign of the Times – E-Signing is Here to Stay

As the growth of the Metaverse and Web 3.0 continues to influence how we live and work today, and our expectations for tomorrow, the impact of...

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corporate law, CorporateLaw+, Corporations, corporations act, Signatures

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METAVERSE+ | DALL-E 2: Who owns AI Art Under Australian Law?

Launched in July 2022 by US artificial intelligence research lab OpenAI, DALL-E 2 is a revolutionary text-to-image art generator which harnesses the...

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Artificial Intelligence, Copyright, copyright act, Digital, Digital Innovation, Disruptive, intellectual property, ip, Media, Metaverse, social media

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Corporate Law+ | Attention All Company Directors – Get Your Mandatory Director ID Number in 5 minutes

All directors of Australian companies must hold a Director Identification Number (DIN) or risk prosecution by ASIC. Below we simplify the process for...

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business law, commercial law, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, Corporations, Directors

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Can an A.I. Machine be an Inventor for Patent Registration?

Whether an AI machine can be recognised as an inventor for patent registration purposes raises fascinating legal and social anthropological...

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, business, business law, Commercialisation, Data, Digital, Digital Innovation, Media

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Corporate Law+ | Electronic Signing – How to Validly Use Cloud Based Platforms

While data and privacy concerns slowed the initial widespread adoption of e-signatures, attitudes have drastically changed towards e-signing and...

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business, business law, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, corporations act, Data, Digital, E-signing, Media

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Corporate Law+ | New Directors Must Now Get a Director ID Before Appointment

Prospective company directors are now legally required to apply for a Director Identification Number before they are appointed. The consequences of...

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business, business law, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, corporations act, Director ID, Directors Duties

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Protecting Your Secret Sauce | How to Ensure You Actually Own that Valuable Business IP

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contractor, Copyright, copyright act, Employee, intellectual property, ip, ownership, secretsauce, trademark, trademarks

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METAVERSE+ | Web 3.0 – Legal Considerations in the Spatial Era

Rapidly evolving technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence are heralding ‘Web 3.0’, a.k.a. ‘the next phase of the...

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METAVERSE+ | Why Facebook is Really Changing its Name to Meta

The tech giant formerly known has Facebook has recently announced that it will change its name to Meta and sharpen its focus on the development of...

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Augmented Reality, Data, Digital, intellectual property, Media, Metaverse, NFTs, Personal Data, social media

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Corporate Law+ | Company Directors set to get IDs from New Government Watchdog

Australian Company directors will soon be required to verify their identity with a recently formed Government Registrar by applying for a...

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business, business law, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, corporations act, Directors Duties

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Corporate Law+ | More Evidence of the End For Wet Ink? Victoria Becomes First State to Make Pandemic Reforms Permanent

Victoria has solidified its contemporary stance on electronic signatures and made its pandemic reforms permanent. In this article, we provide an...

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business, business law, Contracts, coronavirus, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, Signatures

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METAVERSE+ | Gold-backed gorillas and tall giraffes – the trend towards collectible NFT communities

As the global market for NFTs continues to gain momentum, new crypto-collectible communities have entered the scene. In this article we discuss the...

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Cryptocurrency, Digital, Disruptive, Media, Metaverse, NFTs

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Corporate Law+ | The Return of E-Signatures: Updates to the Corporations Act under the 2021 COVID-19 lockdowns

Highly anticipated corporate law reforms have finally been implemented. In this article, we provide an insight into what the changes are, how they...

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business, business law, Contracts, coronavirus, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, Corporations, corporations act, covid19, Law Reforms

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METAVERSE+ | The Spiky Rise of NFTs: Some Intriguing Legal Issues and Challenges

The recent spike in the popularity of NFTs has been tagged by some as the future of the digital art market, and has the markings of the next big...

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Cryptocurrency, Digital, Media, Metaverse, NFTs

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COVID-19+ | Temporary Pandemic Relief Gives Way To Australia’s Most Significant Insolvency Reforms in 30 Years

Despite the expiry of the COVID-19 relief measures, small businesses continue to struggle with the economic challenges created by the pandemic....

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business law, corporate law, CorporateLaw+, insolvency law, law

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COVID-19+ | Corporate Reform in the Age of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread disruption in social and business life on a worldwide basis. Amongst what many regard as positive...

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coronavirus, corporate law, corporations act, covid19, Law Reforms

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Should TikTok be Banned in Australia? Federal Parliamentary Inquiry launches over Chinese Data Security Fears

At the same time as the popularity of mobile app TikTok rises exponentially, countries around the world have raised data and security concerns....

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Data, Media, Privacy, social media

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COVID-19+ | Protecting your Business from Cyber Attacks in a COVID-19 World

On 19 June 2020, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that all levels of Australian government were targeted by ‘sophisticated state-based...

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business, business law, coronavirus, covid19

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COVID-19+ | Regulating the Modernisation of Corporate Governance in a Socially Distant World

The social distancing measures introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted much of our way of life in the last few months. In the...

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business law, corporate law, covid19, Law Reforms

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Watch your wall: Businesses liable for defamatory Facebook comments – NSW Court of Appeal confirms

On 1 June 2020, the NSW Court of Appeal controversially upheld the Supreme Court’s decision that media companies with Facebook pages could be...

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business, business law, social media

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The Rise and Rise of IP – How to Protect and Leverage Intangible Assets

Intellectual Property (‘IP’) is the most important asset class for modern businesses today, accounting for almost 90% of a...

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business law, intellectual property

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COVID-19+ The COVIDSafe App & your Privacy: Is it safe to download?

As that famous virus continues to dominate world affairs, governments and tech companies worldwide are turning to mobile technology to help track...

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coronavirus, covid19, Privacy

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COVID-19+ Emergency Guide for Australian Businesses (15 May 2020 Update)

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causes health and social impacts on a previously almost unfathomable scale, for businesses too it is a...

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business, coronavirus, covid19, Digital

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COVID-19+ Update on National Cabinet’s Landscape-Shifting Commercial Leasing Code

On 7 April 2020 National Cabinet announced a mandatory code (‘Code’) for commercial leases of small and medium sized Australian business...

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business law, coronavirus, corporate law, covid19

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COVID-19+ What Government Grants can SMEs piggy-bank?

In the last few months, COVID-19 has disrupted tens of thousands of businesses across the country, from large listed conglomerates to sole traders...

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business, business law, coronavirus, covid19

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COVID-19+ Emergency Guide for Australian Businesses (17 April 2020 Update)

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causes health and social impacts on a previously almost unfathomable scale, for businesses too it is a...

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business, coronavirus, covid19, Digital

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COVID-19+ Newsflash! – National Cabinet unveils ground-breaking Commercial Leasing Code for SMEs

Under growing pressure to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, on 7 April 2020 National Cabinet announced a mandatory code for commercial lease tenancies...

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business law, coronavirus, corporate law, covid19

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COVID-19+ Fed Govt’s $130B ‘JobKeeper’ Program

On 30 March 2020, the Government announced $130 Billion in the budget with the goal of keeping workers in jobs over the next six months. This article...

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coronavirus, covid19

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COVID-19+ ‘Stay at Home’ laws set to profoundly impact commercial offices

New laws mean that people in New South Wales must not leave their homes without ‘reasonable excuse’. A reasonable excuse is not...

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business, business law, coronavirus, covid19

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COVID-19+ Emergency Guide for Australian Businesses

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic causes health and social impacts on a previously almost unfathomable scale, for businesses too it is a...

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business, business law, coronavirus, corporate law, covid19

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New Laws make Directors Personally Liable for GST Debts

The Senate has recently passed an act which confers personal liability on directors for their company’s unpaid GST...

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corporate law

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Neobanks: Can They Challenge the Big 4?

‘Neobanks’, also known as ‘digital banks’ and ‘challenger banks’, are terms which synonymously refer to the next...

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banking, Digital, Disruptive

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New Whistleblower Policy: 10 Key Points To Note!

All public companies have until 1 January 2020 to comply with the new whistleblower policy requirements. This requirement carries a $126,000 (body...

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business law, corporate law, corporations act

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Disruptive Skies: 10 Things You Need to Know about Australian Drone Law

With drones’ increasing popularity, concerns have been raised regarding their potential to invade privacy and cause safety risks. Whilst...

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Digital, drones

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Corporate Law Update: High Court Sounds a Warning to Directors Providing Financial Assistance to Shareholders

Following a recent High Court case, companies should be aware of adopting too narrow an interpretation of the “financial assistance” provisions...

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corporate law, corporations act

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Handle with care: owner drivers get new protections

Amendments to the Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act create new protections for gig economy workers transporting...

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business law, Gig Economy, law reform

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The Power of the Platform: ACCC Takes Aim at Facebook & Google

In June 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (‘ACCC’) released its’ final report from the Digital Platforms Inquiry...

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ACCC, business, Facebook, Google, social media

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IP Rights Holders beware! Changes to Competition Laws

The repeal of the so-called “IP exemption” from the Competition and Consumer Act could significantly impact commercial dealings in IP rights....

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competition, intellectual property

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Blocking the exits: Directors’ rights to decline share transfers

Under Australian law, directors of companies typically have unilateral powers to reject transfers of shares by shareholders. However, below we...

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corporate law, Directors Duties

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Get your records straight! ASIC record-keeping obligations and penalties

Officers have legal obligations under Australian law to keep information on ASIC registers up to...

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asic, corporate law, Corporations, corporations act

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Your freelancer has arrived: Australian Uber drivers held not employees

In much-publicised proceedings, the Fair Work Ombudsman has found that Uber drivers are independent...

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corporate law, Disruptive, Gig Economy, social media

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Watch your wall: Businesses liable for defamatory Facebook comments

A decision in the Supreme Court of New South Wales has paved the way for businesses to be held responsible for publishing defamatory comments by...

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business, business law, defamation, social media

Knight in chain mail about to strike with sword terminating

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Contractual lock-in? Terminating contracts without a clause

Contracts form the backbone of almost all commercial arrangements, binding parties to perform their specified duties. But when does a breach or...

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Contracts, Repudiation, Termination

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Insolvent trading and the position of Australian directors

Under Australian law, board directors have a duty to prevent insolvent trading by corporations. Though certain exceptions may apply, failure to do so...

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Directors Duties, Insolvent Trading