When “PUBLIC” Information is Deemed Confidential
Tony Cavanagh is a Director at Mullane & Lindsay in Newcastle and is one of LawCover’s panel solicitors.
The Federal Court considered a dispute about the use of “confidential” information in the case of Prime Creative Media Pty Limited v Vrankovic in 2009.
Prime Creative Media (PCM) was a marketing/publishing company. The defendant was a former employee who, whilst working for PCM, became aware of information about PCM’s business contacts from sources such as business cards that were provided by contacts. Unsurprisingly, PCM also created its own database including details of clients and contacts. Read the rest of this entry »
MARK UP FULL PRICE: New rules on advertising goods and services
Published by Law Society of New South Wales
There are new laws regulating the way businesses advertise the price of goods and services with possible fines of up to $1.1 million for a corporation and $220,000 for an individual failing to specify the full price.
Businesses are now required to specify as a single figure the full price of goods or services “of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption”.
This means the GST and all other taxes, duties and levies must be included in the cost price of the goods, and the single figure must be displayed in a prominent way in advertising. This includes newspaper advertisements, promotional brochures, price lists on websites, and even when providing prices verbally.
Anti Spam Law: Unsubscribe facilities do not infer consent
Regulators are increasing efforts to pursue those in breach of the anti-spam law and they can impose substantial penalties – up to $1.1 million per day – against a corporation that repeatedly breaks the law.
Recently, two infringement notices of $110,000 were issued to a major telecommunications company for sending out 20,000 SMS messages. The messages promoted the company’s entertainment service, with the sender identification shown merely as a three-digit number.
Clear and accurate sender identification, along with accurate information about how to contact the sender, is one of three legal requirements of sending commercial electronic messages with an Australian link.