Category

Intellectual Property

Contractors vs. Employees – Navigating the Minefield

By | Business Structures, Directors, Intellectual Property, Miscellaneous, Professional Services, Start-Ups | No Comments

With the rise of Uber and the sharing economy the status of workers has never been more relevant. We see a major push from businesses toward a flexible contractor based workforce. Whilst we share many of the commercial views that drive this push (e.g. flexible overheads, encouraging workforce participation and providing on-demand services), business owners must exercise caution not to incorrectly characterise a worker as a contractor when in fact they are an employee.

Read More

Restraint of Trade Realities

By | Buying and Selling, Directors, Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property | No Comments

Recently, Solomon Lew’s Just Group commenced action against departed CFO Nicole Peck. Just Group is seeking an injunction to prevent Ms Peck working for competitor, Cotton On, for a period of 24 months. Just Group is arguing that it is likely to suffer loss and damage as a result of the potential disclosure of confidential Ms Peck holds, to the Cotton On Group. Most likely, Just Group will be seeking to rely on some form of restraint of trade clause. Read More

Protecting your Brand

By | Intellectual Property, Start-Ups | No Comments

Branding is a task that’s found at the top of every new business owner’s ‘to-do list’. A well-crafted name/brand is one of the most important tools in the marketing toolkit. It’s usually the case that protecting your brand is found much further down your ‘to-do’ list, or not on the list at all. Read More