Yesterday, the Honourable Joe Hockey MP, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, announced that the Coalition will make further changes to the Work Choices system if it is re-elected.

Yesterday, the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced further details of the Labor Government's new IR Laws – which are due to be introduced into Parliament in the next few months.

In the latest in a series of ongoing cases between Ajinomoto Co Inc ('Ajinomoto') and NutraSweet Australia Pty Ltd ('Nutrasweet'), the Full Federal Court has affirmed that Ajinomoto's patent for a blended sweetener is invalid, on the ground of lack of inventive step.

ASIC has published a consultation paper proposing benchmarks and increased disclosure by issuers of unlisted and unrated debentures.

The Federal Magistrates Court has found in favour of software publisher Microsoft Corporation ('Microsoft') in a copyright dispute against Rodney Mayhew.

The Cross-Border Insolvency Act 2008 (Cth) has been passed by Australia’s Federal Parliament and received royal assent on May 26, 2008. The Act provides for the adoption and enactment as a law of Australia of the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, which was adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) in May 1997.

The Court found the market announcements were not misleading or deceptive, so there was no continuous disclosure breach.

The Federal Court has found in favour of Bullet Creative Pty Ltd, a design company and its employee, Mr Petro, in its dispute with Dais Studio Pty Ltd (Dais) over copyright in Dais's source code of the website content management system it has developed.

APRA has released a discussion paper outlining proposed amendments to the general insurance framework relating to Direct Offshore Foreign Investors (DOFIs).

The Australian Government has taken the first legislative step toward national emission trading by introducing a Bill that will make it mandatory to report certain emissions of greenhouse gases, namely carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, certain hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons (GHG).

Yesterday, the Full Court of the Federal Court handed down its decision on the appeal in Goldman Sachs JB Were Services Pty Ltd v Nikolich [2007] FCAFC 120.

ASIC has released two new regulatory guides updating its policies in relation to independent expert reports. RG111 The Content of Expert Reports and RG112 Independence of Experts are aimed at improving the overall quality of expert reporting.

The United States District Court has found that eBay intentionally infringed a patent owned by MercExchange through use of eBay's 'buy it now' feature and ordered eBay to pay $30 million in damages.

International intellectual property news

On November 27, ASIC released a new regulatory guide in relation to compensation and professional indemnity requirements for Australian Financial Services licensees servicing retail clients.