Quite frequently business owners who have decided to enter into various arrangements for the distribution or licensing of their goods or services discover that the agreement reached is in law a “franchise agreement” and that they have unwittingly become a franchisor subject to additional regulation and obligations. If an agreement is a “franchise agreement” then there are certain legal requirements including mandatory disclosure prior to the grant of the franchise, procedures for transfer and termination and resolution of disputes.

A US Judge has found that organisations who use images posted on Twitter for commercial purposes will infringe the copyright of the owner of those photographs.

The Washington Post and Agence France – Presse had argued that once the pictures appeared on Twitter they were freely available and that Twitter’s terms of service granted it the right to use the photographs. Accordingly, they have published the photographs without permission from or payment to the professional photographer who took them.

What must you do when a contract requires you to use “best endeavours”, “reasonable endeavours” or “all reasonable endeavours”?  Are your contractual obligations for “best endeavours” or “best reasonable endeavours” higher than those for “reasonable endeavours”?

Our health, aged care and life sciences team discuss a range of topical health, life sciences, medico-legal, aged care and retirement living, social media, privacy, franchising and employment issues. To read the latest copy of the Health Law Bulletin, click here

Hospital operators, invest in expensive medical equipment, such as linear accelerators. The recent case of Re Cancer Care Institute of Australia Pty Limited [2013] NSWSC 37 highlights the issue of protecting ownership in medical equipment.

Amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act) give the Fair Work Commission jurisdiction over complaints of bullying in workplaces covered by the Fair Work Act. Previously, bullying could only be raised as an example of conduct that may breach adverse action provisions of the Fair Work Act or unfair dismissal laws. The amendments commence on 1 January 2014, six months later than originally proposed. Click here to read more.

Rachael Sutton, Partner and Dr Tim Smyth, Special Counsel

When the word franchising is mentioned, most readers of the Health Law Bulletin think of fast food chains, home maintenance and retailing. What does it have to do with health, aged care and community services? 

Quite a lot it turns out from talking to Corinne Attard, who has recently joined Holman Webb in our Sydney office as a commercial partner specialising in franchising. Click here to read more.

NEWS - Holman Webb appointed to the Commonwealth preapproved Law Firms List

Making further external recognition of Holman Webb’s legal expertise, we are pleased to advise of our recent inclusion in the Commonwealth Government’s Legal Services Multi-User List. All Commonwealth Government departments and agencies (other than Commonwealth companies and government business enterprises) are required to use the law firms included on this list for their external legal services from 1 July 2013.

Summary of article by UK legal academic Gerald Swaby entitled “Blurring distinctions: Should innocent insureds be tarred with the same brush as their fraudulent agents? (Insurance Law Journal April 2013 Vol 24 No. 1).

A husband and wife go through an acrimonious separation. One spouse acts violently against the other by burning the house down. Should the victim forfeit his/her insurance claim?

Mandatory notification has been in place for three years now, and, if we look beyond the encouraging rhetoric about improving patient safety, the scheme has kicked up some surprises, including last year's 40 per cent surge nationally in the number of reports made, which, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) has, so far, been unable to explain.

While the increase might encourage belief in the scheme fulfilling its goals of ensuring patient safety, we should aslo bear in mind that the rise also increases the chances that health practitioners, who take the serious step of making a report, may face legal action when they do so. If we drill down into the 40 per cent increase, we find that the most significant contribution comes from Queensland where the number of reports has almost tripled, rising from 85 to 220.The increase is even more troubling because health practitioners making mandatory reports about colleagues are not absolutely protected from defamation. Put simply, doctors reporting colleagues, and members of the public reporting health practitioners, can be sued for defamation.