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What Happens when Someone Claims Copyright Infringement Overseas?

What Happens when Someone Claims Copyright Infringement Overseas?

by | Apr 22, 2017 | Copyright, Law for Online Business, Video

What Happens when Someone Claims Copyright Infringement Overseas?

Where in the world can you take action for copyright infringement?

The topic for today is copyright.

Our client has received a letter of demand from Germany.

Now, you are not obliged to go to the courts somewhere else in the world if on your website you have terms and conditions that say the governing law is Australia, or if on your piece of material it says the governing law is Australia. Copyright laws are similar internationally in line with treaties, but are limited by country if you want to take legal action. If you specify the governing law you are in a position to argue that an action started somewhere else in the world is outside its jurisdiction.

So in our client’s case, the dispute is in regard to a book cover. The inside cover states that the governing law is Australia, it’s published by an Australian company and the artist involved is based in Germany.

We have told the German lawyer, “If you want to take action against our client, come here to Australia and take action here.”  Because even if there is a decision in Germany, they can’t enforce it against our client in Germany because the client has no property there. That means they can’t make our client pay unless they come here to Australia and execute against the client’s property here in Australia. So they have an uphill battle in front of them.

When you’re being pursued by someone from overseas for a copyright issue, remember it’s going to be hard for them to get money out of you if they’re in another country. 

How can Onyx Legal help you?

If you are worried that someone is infringing your rights under copyright law, or you receive a letter alleging that you are infringing copyright law, make an appointment so that we can help you chart a way forward.

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How Governance Can Help an Organization Add Value

How Governance Can Help an Organization Add Value

by | Aug 10, 2016 | Business Structures, Contracts, Employment, Law for Online Business, Video

How Governance Can Help an Organization Add Value

What is the purpose of corporate governance? 

What exactly is governance and why is it important?

Well, it’s not that complicated. It’s just the rules around doing business.

If you’re a registered company, there are certain reporting obligations that you have in order to protect the shareholders, the investors in your business. Good governance also helps to add value to your business so that when you’re looking at getting more investors on board or actually selling your business in the future, you can demonstrate why it’s worth what you say it’s worth.

An example here might be if you’ve got a startup and someone’s developed a piece of software. Now, that piece of software might have some value, and the person who created it might be entitled to receive some money from the business at some point in time once it’s making revenue.

Actually documenting the rights of the company and the developer shareholder are very important because if you’ve got an investor who wants to come into the company, or you’ve got someone who wants to buy the business, they need to know that the business owns that software and on what terms it owns it, because it can make a big difference to the valuation of the business. That is one of the first points of information around governance – ensuring that all the key players in the business understand the rules for the business.

There’s a lot of questions around what level of detail you need to have, but that’s a separate conversation. Typically, a company will have at least a constitution or replaceable rules, and a shareholder agreement governing the relationship between the shareholders. 

How can Onyx Legal help you?

If you would like to understand your business structure and how to bring in new people so that everyone is on the same page, 

Book an Appointment

1st thing to consider when BUYING/ SELLING your online business

1st thing to consider when BUYING/ SELLING your online business

by | May 16, 2016 | Buying or Selling a Business, Law for Online Business, Video

1st thing to consider when BUYING/ SELLING your online business

When you buy a business you need to understand if you are also buying the intellectual property 

What we’d like to talk to you about today is why copyright makes the online world a more interesting place. I know that’s difficult for some people because there’s a lot of people out there that say, “Hey, I can find it available for free. Why should I have to pay for it?“

Well, copyright started originally to protect the people who create education and entertainment for us to encourage them to continue to do so. You can imagine that if people didn’t receive an income for creating the things they create, we probably wouldn’t see a lot of them. Think about the big movies, touring musicians or best selling books for example.

Another thing about copyright is that there’s no copyright in ideas.

Consider this – there are an awful lot of videos, TV programs, movies about zombies. That’s because zombies are not a protected idea; it’s just a concept.

There is however, copyright in each motion picture, the script behind each motion picture, the music that goes with the motion picture, the stills that can be created out of the motion picture.

All of that kind of information attracts different rights under copyright.

There’s a whole lot to this topic, and we do want to share a lot more information for you, check out or article about using copyright material, but that’s enough for today. 

How can Onyx Legal help you?

Do you need heads of agreement or a contract for buying an online business or selling an online business? Does it cover copyright materials or other intellectual property? There are lots of basic templates around that simply do not protect your interests. If the transaction involves more money than you can afford to lose, book an appointment for help with your contract and the transaction.

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Legal letters ARE NOT your ultimate ‘weapon’! Let’s talk about dispute resolution

Legal letters ARE NOT your ultimate ‘weapon’! Let’s talk about dispute resolution

by | May 9, 2016 | Dispute Resolution, Law for Online Business, Video

Legal letters ARE NOT your ultimate ‘weapon’! Let’s talk about dispute resolution

I’d like to talk to you about dispute resolution and why legal letters are not your ultimate weapon.

Often when you get people involved in a dispute, I’ll get phone calls from one party saying, “Can you please send a legal letter of demand to this other party, because I’m sick of this dispute and I want a result.”

Unfortunately, the most common reaction to a legal letter is to blow the whole dispute up and make it a lot worse. So what we like to do is look at the problem and what you actually want to achieve. “What is the solution that you’re after?” and let’s aim for that instead.

There are different ways of doing it, and there are all sorts of ways that you can communicate with the other party to firmly stick to the solution that you’re looking for, but to actually work toward a result.

We can help you with crafting emails, or practising conversations and strategies to achieve that result instead of making the dispute 10 times worse. Imagine what it would be like to have that nagging problem resolved and no longer consuming your energy? 

How can Onyx Legal help you?

We can certainly help you if you’d like a letter sent by us, but we’d rather help you with letters you can send with a view to bringing an end to a dispute rather than making it worse. Make an appointment if you’d like our help.

Make an Appointment