26
Mar 2020
LEASES – COVID-19 IMPACT
As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread across Australia its impact on commercial arrangements is a serious concern for landlords and tenants alike. The mandatory closure of licensed premises and various quarantining measures have resulted in landlords and tenants discovering that their commercial and retail lease agreements do not deal with unprecedented events like COVID-19. Force majeure clauses in leases are rare to find and rent abatement clauses are generally
11
Nov 2019
NEW LIQUOR LAWS NOW IN OPERATION
The highly anticipated amendments to the Liquor Control Act finally came into force on 2 November 2019. The latest amendments impact on applications seeking the sale of packaged liquor, in particular liquor stores, as well as unrestricted hotel and tavern licences and some special facility licences. There is now a prohibition on granting, removing, altering or redefining packaged liquor premises where: packaged liquor premises are situated less than the prescribed
12
Apr 2019
SALE OF SHARES V SALE OF BUSINESS
SALE OF SHARES V SALE OF BUSINESS There are two ways to buy a business: Buy the Company (or more accurately the shares in the Company that operates the business); or Buy the Business (being the assets of the business owned by the Company or other legal entity). Each option has its own pros and cons, and really depends on the type of business being operated (some business licences cannot
09
Jul 2018
DATA PROTECTION LAW UPDATE
Data protection is afforded in Australia by the Privacy Act’s in each State and Territory. These laws regulate the collection, use and disclosure of information about individuals and businesses. With the development of technology and the omnipresent threat of cyber-criminals and hackers, the law is constantly needing to evolve to provide sufficient safeguards for the data and personal information of internet users. In 2018, the following legislative developments have reached
18
Jun 2018
HAVE YOU SEARCHED THE PPSR?
Despite being introduced over six years ago, the Personal Property Securities Register or the PPSR is still widely unknown in business. What is the PPSR? The PPSR is the single national register of security interests in personal property. Personal property includes vehicles, stock and equipment or basically anything that is not land, buildings or fixtures. A security interest is an interest in personal property that secures payment of a debt
Image rights are the right to one’s own image and the ability to decide when, how and by whom one’s physically recognisable features, including image, voice and name, can be captured, reproduced and/or published. In Australia, a person does not necessarily have a proprietary interest in their own image rights, however the law has allowed a person to grant a licence to a third party for the exploitation of one’s
The highly anticipated Liquor Control Amendment Bill 2018 was presented to Parliament on 20 February 2018, and passed the lower house on 10 April 2018. In keeping with his election commitment, Premier Mark McGowan introduced a range of improvements in the way liquor outlets around the state are controlled. There are a number of key changes proposed which impact on liquor stores, in particular the larger liquor barns. As a result,
11
Apr 2018
IS A TRADE MARK WORTH IT?
Registration of a trade mark offers different, and important, protections to the registration of a business name. Whilst both can be used to identify your business, registering your business name does not give you legal proprietary rights over that name. Business Name A business name is the name under which your business operates. You only need to register a business name if you are trading under a name that is
06
Sep 2017
Restaurants selling liquor without a meal
Pursuant to the Liquor Control Act 1988 (WA) the primary and predominant purpose of a restaurant must be the regular supply of meals to customers seated at a dining table (or similar fixed structure). However, restaurants can obtain an extended trading permit to serve liquor without a meal. If the capacity of the premises is less than 120 persons, then the process for obtaining an extended trading permit is relatively
31
Aug 2017
Is your contract unfair?
Dubbed the ‘Unfair Contracts Act’, recent changes to legislation finally provides parties to standard form contracts with greater protection. A standard form contract is one that has been prepared by one party to the contract and where the other party has little or no opportunity to negotiate the terms of the contract, effectively it is a ‘take it or leave it’ contract. These changes apply to contracts entered into on