law
WITH NEW COMPL IANCE MEASURES COMING INTO E FFECT, BUS INESS E S— AND ES PECIALLY THE I R D I R EC T O R S — N EED TO LEARN TO DEAL WITH THE ARRAY OF REPORTING A ND OV ER SI G HT RE SPONSI B I L IT I E S OR RISK SEVERE PENALTIES.
Most laws directly affecting businesses are created with the interests of fair trade and the economy in mind—laws for taxation, intellectual property and copyright, employment and corporate governance. Other laws prohibit business activities that could harm individuals, society at large and the environment. In the past, any overlap between laws for business and laws for the rest of society has been fairly small. Until now.
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With 200 new bills passed by parliament, 2011 was a big year in Australian legislation. M&A and private equity expert Nick Humphrey of Sparke Helmore Lawyers describes the regulatory landscape as "dynamic" and says "the changes that we're starting to see now are only going to continue. It's about protecting the environment, society and governance (ESG) and it means boardroom accountability on a much wider scale." New reporting and oversight responsibilities extend
far beyond protecting the rights of shareholders. Humphrey, who has more than 100 private equity deals under his belt, says: "This evolving compliance burden is creating big new responsibilities for directors and making huge demands on their time."
IP owners beware Meanwhile, a whole host of companies run the risk of the axe falling from another direction—misuse of their intellectual property and copyright infringement. Peter Banki, Senior Partner at Banki, Haddock Fiora, has more than 20 years' experience acting for and advising businesses looking to protect and profit from their IP. "In the age of the internet, the possibilities for copyright infringement and misuse of their material are growing exponentially and are almost impossible to monitor and keep track of," Banki says. With all these bills being passed, can businesses
take comfort in legislative reform keeping pace with technology? Banki cites a case brought against internet service provider iiNet by film producers for failing to stop
THE POSSIBI L IT IES FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND MISUSE OF MATERIAL ARE GROWING EXPONENTIALLY.
