Legal

As Australian retailers gear up for the Christmas shopping season, they must be diligent in ensuring their compliance with the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

IP encompasses all registered or unregistered design rights, trade marks, patents, copyright, confidential information, trade or business names, database rights, know-how and technology. IP rights are inherently invisible, but can be very valuable assets if they are properly identified and protected.

Not only can your performance at work be monitored, employers are increasingly turning to social media to monitor their staff’s personal behaviour. But what legalities do managers need to be aware of? Here’s a look.

You should treat your home office as you would any other business premise, to ensure intellectual property is protected from thieves. If you’re the budget-conscious type, there are a number of ways to safe-proof a home office both cheaply and diligently.

Should you be worried about what you put in the cloud? There are some security and privacy issues that you do need to be aware of. For the prospective adopters of cloud computing, binding laws such as the US Patriot Act have brought risks to the table that most businesses are simply not comfortable dealing with.

When it comes to health and safety rules in the workplace, it’s better to be proactive rather than reactive to avoid problems. Here are three important areas to consider to ensure the minimisation of injuries due to rule breaches.

If you’re actively using your Facebook page for promotion, you should be aware of how you use it complying with advertising and customer standards.

There are benefits to running your business in partnership with a friend or family member, this could mean it was established with only the bare minimum of documents. Though this may not currently present an issue, it can cause succession headaches later.

Good documentation of workplace safety data helps leaders keep their fingers on the pulse of organisational safety by recording and reporting claims and premium data, which can have a positive flow-on effect on the premiums they have to pay.

Have you completed your proper due diligence on your business contracts? It’s crucial to plug the holes in your business contracts before you find yourself sinking.

Buying business insurance through a qualified adviser, rather than organising it yourself directly through the insurer, could be the difference between survival or closure in the face of a disaster. Here’s why.

For the most part, businesses run well, employees love their job, and employers are good people. But when it goes wrong, it can go badly wrong for both. The threat of legal action has greater consequences than you think – let’s put it in perspective.

The role of an SMB owner is wide-ranging and understated: CEO, general manager, accountant, HR manager, and marketer. Without the luxuries afforded to a larger organisation – such as having a risk management team – small business owners need to self-manage all risk scenarios and shortcomings in-house.

Genesis Fitness Club (GFC) has been penalised by the consumer watchdog for using the carbon tax as an excuse to increase membership fees, making it the first business in the country to be fined after the ACCC was given extra funds by the Government to crack down on false carbon claims.

With the ever increasing fast pace of society, a successful business, particularly an entrepreneurial one, often needs to take business risks to stand out. However, risks often bring with them the potential for liability.

Nobody wants to think about it when times are good, but the break-up of a marriage can have huge consequences for business owners. While you may not want to go as far as a pre-nup, you can follow some smart advice.

Remember the changes announced in the Federal Budget in May? No? Well the beginning of the new financial year means that many of these measures have now commenced. Use this list of changes to ensure you’re compliant.

All SMBs should integrate workplace safety into business management systems, practice prevention rather than reaction and show commitment from owners to the process. Use the seven pillars of safety as a guideline to making this happen in your business.

When the time has come to sell your business, many factors need to be considered and acted upon before you’re free from any further obligations. This is what should be on your to-do list.

If you’re going to expand your business and become an exporter, you’d better learn to manage bribery and corruption risk in foreign markets. This expert advice will help you protect your business if the regulator comes knocking.