On October 13th, the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth) legislated for the retention of metadata by telecommunications carriers and internet service providers (telcos) for a mandatory period of two years. This data will then be made available to federal, state and territory police, Medicare, Councils in NSW, Worksafe Victoria, the RSPCA, the Tax Office, Australia Post, domestic spy agency ASIO, ASIC and many others when conducting criminal and financial investigations.

Holman Webb Lawyers has announced a strategic alliance with global US firm Diaz Reus, strengthening the firm’s reach into the Latin American market.

With an existing reach in the Australian and European markets, the alliance will increase the capability of both firms in the Asia Pacific region.

Tips

• Take the time to develop an understanding of the cyber threats that could affect your business.
• Work with your clients or board to create a solid cyber-security program that involves the board, management, IT team and employees. A holistic and inclusive approach is required to ensure that proper and functional policies are in place that can and will be complied with.
• Within this ever changing space, continued vigilance and attention to new and current methods, policies, systems and procedures is fundamental if organisations are to minimise the chance of a cyber-attack.

D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc. [2015] HCA 35 7 October 2015

The recent High Court Case of D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc. & Anor [2015] HCA 35 highlights the debate over balancing:

1. the rights of inventors and creators to commercialise and profit from their inventions;  and

2. the interests and needs of the wider society to be able to access biological developments for research and the improvement of public health and welfare.

Those seeking the protection of intellectual property rights argue that the protection of exclusive rights to the intellectual property enables investment which is necessary for the expensive process of taking research to clinical trials, commercialisation and the market.

Those seeking the protection of human rights argue that the granting of monopoly rights restricts further research and also grants access only to those who can afford to pay, to the detriment, for example of poorer nations.

Small businesses are becoming increasingly vulnerable to unfair terms in standard form contracts.  The Government has got closer to addressing this vulnerability by extending the unfair contract protection to include small business contracts.  But what is a small business? And what types of clauses are void?

Holman Webb would like to congratulate Alison Choy Flannigan, Health, Aged Care & Life Sciences Partner, on receiving the 2015 Australasian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM) – NSW Branch President’s Award on Wednesday night.

On the 6^th July 2015, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) released an Information Paper in relation to Outsourcing. It noted that in recent years there has been a significant change in the way that technology is being employed with shared computing services (SCS) being increasingly utilised by a range of business entities.

The Greens have announced a new bill which potentially means Australian franchisors could be jointly liable for the breaches of employment awards and laws by their franchisees. But is there already potential liability for franchisors if their franchisees don’t pay their staff their proper entitlements?

If you are a franchisor in Australia you will know that you must update your disclosure document every year to comply with the Franchising Code.

If you have a 30 June end of financial year then you should also know that it has to be completed by 31 October.

Welcome to the September edition of the Holman Webb Health Law Bulletin.

This Health Law Bulletin includes articles on lessons learnt from the Quaker’s Hill Coronial Inquest, palliative care and euthanasia and advance care directives.