News

Judges must be vigilant protectors of “commercial morality”

By Darise Bennington

JUDGES FACED with applications to approve Deeds of Company Arrangements (DOCAs) must protect the public interest by ensuring that the DOCAs do not offend commercial morality, the Supreme Court of New South Wales has found. “[T]he Court should not, by granting such an application, ignore and thus be seen to condone, conduct by the company’s officers which has breached standards of behaviour required by the law,” Justice Palmer held in Modena Imports Pty Ltd (in liq), In the matter of; Leveraged Capital Pty Ltd (R&M app) (in liq) v Modena Imports Pty Ltd (in liq) [2010] NSWSC 739 at [9]. 

It’s (ETS) business time – for forests

By Oliver Roberts, partner, Duncan Cotterill

WE ARE now at the business end of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) applying to forestry assets. The legislation is complex and clients are now starting to ask questions at a practical level. Lawyers should be aware of some of the common issues that will arise and be prepared to invest some time upskilling themselves on the ETS.

Lawyers held to higher standards than other occupations, says Law Society

By Craig Sisterson

THE STANDARDS of care and the professional duties lawyers have to observe are higher than any other occupation in New Zealand, with the exception of judicial officers, New Zealand Law Society President Jonathan Temm told NZLawyer in the wake of the recent suspension of high-profile barrister Chris Comeskey.

Features & Opinions

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Putting science back on the political agenda
New Zealand needs a national IP strategy to become internationally competitive, says Frik de Beer, a Trustee of the Licensing Executives Society of Australia and New Zealand

The Government has painted a bright picture for science, technology, and innovation in the future. It would seem that, in its funding announcements for innovation in the May 2010 budget, the government is putting science back at the forefront of the political agenda.

PATENTS
Are software patents in New Zealand a thing of the past?
Jonathan Lucas considers the effect of the Minister of Commerce’s recent decision

On 15 July 2010, New Zealand’s Minister of Commerce Simon Power confirmed that computer programs will be excluded from patentability in the new Patents Act, but inventions for embedded software will be allowed.
This announcement comes after considerable public debate in light of the Commerce Select Committee’s (CSC) recommendation that software should be excluded from patentability.

LEAKY BUILDING
Reasonableness – not always a black and White issue
Janine Stewart and Scott Thompson look at what the duty to mitigate means

Owners faced with a leaking or otherwise defective home are often overwhelmed by the remedial task ahead of them. They generally have little knowledge of how much those works should cost and the processes they should follow to avoid a cost blowout. 
A claimant’s duty to mitigate damage has been the subject of court battles for years and is now a hot topic in the mediation forum due in most part to the leaky building epidemic and associated remedial works.