How do you make a small claim in NSW?
Who carries the cost when an investor gets scammed? Which case won?
In a case study reported in 2016 by the UK Financial Ombudsman, an investor in the United Kingdom, “Ms Q”, had her emails hacked by fraudsters, who impersonated her and sent emails purporting to be from her to her financial adviser.
Could an accounting firm restrain a former employee from doing work for one of its clients? Which case won?
In 2003, a nineteen-year-old man began employment as a trainee accountant with a major accounting firm in Perth. He signed an employment contract that included a post-employment “restraint of trade” clause.
Restraint of trade clauses are often included by employers to protect their client relationships should an employee leave and start up work in competition.
However, clauses of this nature are not always easy to enforce because the law recognises that it is not in the public interest to restrict a person’s ability to earn a living or to restrict healthy competition between businesses. The onus to prove that a particular restraint clause is “reasonably necessary” to protect “legitimate business interests” therefore rests with the employer.
Was a rival’s use of the phrase “Post without the office” a breach of Australia Post’s intellectual property? Which case won?
Sendle Pty Ltd is a Sydney-based parcel delivery company that provides low-cost, door-to-door delivery, enabling customers to avoid physically attending a post office to send parcels.
As a start-up back in 2014, Sendle lodged an application to register the trade mark “Post without the office”. In 2015, Australia Post filed a Notice of Intention to Oppose the registration, arguing that the phrase was a breach of the Trade Marks Act because it was deceptively similar to its own trade marks and likely to mislead consumers.
The matter came before the Australian Trade Mark Office for hearing in February 2017.
