Ben Hamilton

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ( ACCC ) has recently cracked down on several well-known of retailers for making false and misleading claims during their Black Friday sales. These businesses were fined for misrepresenting the nature of their online sales, specifically advertising discounts as applying ‘sitewide’, when in reality, significant exclusions were applicable.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has published its final report on the Digital Platform Services Inquiry, making a number of recommendations in relation to the Australian Government’s proposed digital competition regime.

A US court case involving the process of training Claude, an LLM system owned by Anthropic, is the first decision to assess whether the use of copyright material to train LLMs is considered ‘fair use’ under US laws. What implications could it have for Australia?

Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is accelerating across Australian businesses, and the regulatory framework governing its use and procurement continues to evolve. Instead of introducing specific and comprehensive AI legislation, Australia has largely adopted a principles-based approach that relies on existing (but not AI specific) laws and regulatory guidance.

The applicants in the proceedings were Bodum AG (First Applicant), Bodum (Australia) Pty Ltd (Second Applicant) and Pi-Design AG (Third Applicant) (collectively, Bodum ). Bodum had designed, manufactured and sold double walled glasses ( DWGs ) in Australia since 2004, under its ‘Pavina’ and ‘Canteen’ ranges. Bodum registered these two designs under the Designs Act 2003 (Cth) with IP Australia in 2004 and enjoyed exclusive rights over visual features associated with these products until the design registrations expired in 2014.