Knowledge

Court proceedings are underway here in Australia between Epic Games Inc (Epic) and Apple Inc (Apple) are well worth watching. Epic, maker of popular ‘battle royale’ game Fortnite, alleges that the App Store user contract by which Apple makes Fortnite available for internet download contains terms and conditions that ‘misuse’ Apple’s market power.

Within the same week, the Tokyo Olympic Games finally got underway after a 12-month delay, and Brisbane were awarded the rights to host the 2032 Olympic Games. Olympic fever (often called five ring fever) is in full flight.

Lego has taken action in the United States of America to prevent sales of an ‘irresponsible’ customisation kit for making real guns resemble children’s toys.

From 1 July 2021, more consumers will benefit from the statutory protection of the Australian Consumer Law with the upper limit for consumer rights protection increasing from $40,000 to $100,000.

The Australian Capital Territory Government has published our review of gas laws and legal frameworks for Canberra’s uptake of hydrogen energy.

For the most part, tangible signposts guide decision making on Australian export controls by the government agency that has that responsibility, Defence Export Controls (DEC). The most significant of these is the Defence Strategic Goods List (DSGL).

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has secured an important settlement in its action against Tasmanian Ports Corporation (TasPorts) in the Federal Court. In the first case since an ‘effects test’ was added to the ‘purpose test’ as a basis for establishing ‘misuse of market power’, TasPorts admitted that it had engaged in conduct.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been around since at least 2014 but have yet to really come into their own. Digital artworks and virtual cat-breeding (see below) may attract clickbait headlines but represent slightly trivial use cases and are nowhere near what we can ultimately expect of NFT technology.

The Chinese government has announced new provisions clarifying the collection of personal information by mobile apps.

The recent explosion of interest – and investment – in digital art has highlighted one more area where blockchain is steadily encroaching into all aspects of modern life.