Past Journal Issues

September 2005

Welcome to Computers and Law for September 2005. Since our last issue, there have been a number of developments in copyright law in particular, as it relates to peer-to-peer distribution systems, and we are very pleased to present an update on these key developments in this issue. In addition, we have a range of interesting articles that provide useful insight into and analysis of ICT governance, domain names and the UN Convention on Contracts of the International Sale of Goods.

Welcome to the June edition of Computers & Law. The articles in this edition deal with a range of issues, including how to track the geographic location of an internet address and e-commerce alternative dispute resolution (ADR). We also consider what challenges lie ahead for intellectual property law, and the Federal Court decision in Ward Group Pty Ltd v Brodie & Stone plc in relation to internet trade mark infringement.

Welcome to the first edition of Computers and Law for 2005. This issue has a strong copyright focus, with articles discussing the Australia - United States Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Australian and international copyright cases. On the e-commerce side, we also look at the regulation of interactive gambling. Following on from previous editions, we continue the discussion of spam prevention - this time looking at United States legislation which regulates spam.

Welcome to the final edition of Computers and Law for 2004. We have covered a variety of topics in this issue - including managing software development contracts, and analysing the impact of financial services reform on software implementation. In other regulatory changes, we look at proposed amendments to the Consumer Credit Code. Also, we follow the post-Gutnick development of defamation law for articles published on the internet, and explore patent protection for e-commerce systems.

Welcome to the June issue of Computers & LawIn this issue, we are pleased to present a range of interesting and topical material including articles on the recent changes to copyright legislation resulting from the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the US (the FTA), developments in information technology aspects of defamation law, the current litigation risks associated with open source software and a US decision on the enforceability of browsewrap agreements. We also take a look at some of the more technical and business aspects of our profession with an overview of client relationship management software and a discussion of case-based reasoning retrieval information systems.

Welcome to the June issue of Computers & Law. In this issue, we have been able to include articles and notes on a range of interesting topics but with a particular focus on software issues - including the protection of software invented by university faculty, protection of software against copyright infringement and open source GPL software licences. Readers may also have noticed that we are including contact details for the various state and New Zealand computers and law societies to encourage readers to join their local society and be involved in society activities.

Welcome to the first edition of Computers & Law for 2004. In this edition we address some legal issues that have been in the news of late including the introduction of anti-spam legislation and copyright protection against peer-to-peer file sharing. We also look at the protection of open-source software, consequential loss in an IT context and the potentially wide reach of a subpoena for computer-based records.

Welcome to the last edition of Computers & Law for 2003. This edition looks at various legal issues relating to the use of the Internet including liability of ISPs in the context of music piracy, the balance between piracy and law enforcement in the context of the role of ISPs and misleading websites. We also continue to explore business, technological and legal issues which arise when conducting business in the Asian region.

Welcome to the September 2003 edition of Computers & Law. This issue looks at a range of issues concerning the manner in which different legal and regulatory regimes are reacting, or should react, to different aspects of technological change. We feature a piece on the evolving technology transfer regime in the People's Republic of China. We also publish articles on possible new approaches to cybersquatting and online copyright protection, casenotes on two recent Federal Court decisions concerning electronic pre-trial discovery and "mod-chipping", and discussion of recent computer-specific criminal legislation introduced in New Zealand, proposed anti-"spam" legislation in Australia and the federal government's review of the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000 (Cth).

Welcome to the June 2003 issue of Computers & Law. This issue has a particular focus on international law and, in particular, United States legal developments and the activities of US companies in the international arena.

Welcome to the first issue of Computers & Law for 2003. The subject matter of the articles in this issue range from employer's IT intellectual property ownership; copyright and software protection in China and patent law issues to an interesting take on the convergence of legal services and technology.

The subject matter of the articles in this issue range from "black letter" copyright and patent law issues to some more unusual issues such as racial discrimination and the advantages of graphical representation of interconnecting theories. Also included is a case note of the High Court's recent decision to allow Joseph Gutnick to bring a defamation action in Victoria against Dow Jones - a US publisher.

In this issue.....

• Resolving disputes in the .au domain space - Rachel Garland and Lucy Davis;

• Transfer of .au domain name licences - Orana Catlin;

• BT loses in hyperlinking patent infringement action against Prodigy - Julian Lincoln;

• Developments in privacy since 21 December 2001 - Catherine Rowe and Lisa Ritchie;

• 'Consideration' and the open source agreement - Ben Giles;

• E-commerce and jurisdictional issues: an overview - Katie Sutton;

• Supreme Court of Victoria Practice Note 1 of 2002 - Guidelines for the use of technology in the civil matters - Sandra Potter and Peter Moon;

• Little guys in a big industry: Independent artists and the copyright/contract issue online - Livia Fong Yan; and

• The EU data retention debate: part two - Daniel Sullivan;

In this issue.....

• British Telecom lays claim to hyperlinking - Glen Sauer.

• A critical analysis of Queensland's cyberstalking legislation - Daniel Sullivan.

• Dispute resolution in IT contracting - Simone Brandon.

• Recent developments in the GITC - Gordon Hughes.

• Internet content regulation in Australia; perceptions thus far - Carolyn Penfold.

• Legal XML and e-filing - The Australian focus VSCL and AIJA Joint Conference - Sandra Potter.

• The EU data retention debate: Part one - Daniel Sullivan.

This edition of the Journal focuses on domain name issues with articles on control of second level .au domains, protection of domain names in the People's Republic of China and an article on cybersquatting. A case note dealing with a challenge to domain name registration and a note on auDA's new policy regarding generic domain names are also included. Other articles in this edition of the Journal deal with issues arising from the intersection of computers and other technology with the law. Discussions about public key infrastructure and privacy issues, software piracy and IT legal risks are included among these.

This edition covers a wide range of issues that result from the rapid technological changes which have a marked impact upon the way in which people interact and conduct business. We start by discussing the threat of computer fraud to business and the preventive measures that can be implemented by companies to avoid unauthorised access to their computer systems. We then go on to address the issue of verification and formation of electronic contracts. In addition we provide a concise evaluation of the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgements in Civil and Commercial Matters. We conclude this edition with a discussion of the duty of care of schools to their students when they choose to implement teaching via the means of cyberspace.

This edition focuses on regulation of the internet. We take a look at the restrictions placed on activities such as online gambling and the accessibility of certain web content. We also discuss regulation of the internet from an international perspective and the problems associated with attempting to classify what conduct should be considered "cybercrimes". In addition there are a number of casenotes which address various important decisions about business method patents, browse-wrap licensing, copyright protection of databases and intellectual property issues. We conclude this issue with a discussion of domain name policy.

In this edition, we take a look at various business and legal issues arising from the use of technology. In particular we consider the risks associated with, and the legality of certain types of conduct associated with the internet such as online securities trading, "spamming" and "screen scraping". We also take a look at the recently introduced Crimes Amendment (Computer Offences) Bill 2001, NSW. In addition, we address various intellectual property issues associated with information technology.

In this issue we focus on privacy to coincide with the passing of the Federal Government's Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 on 7 December 2000. In addition, we also have a special feature article contributed by Rod Evenden to correspond with the commencement of the Copyright (Digital Agenda) Amendment Act 2000 and the Moral Rights Act 2000.

In this issue, we focus on the business issues arising from the internet.