Australian Commercial Law, 31st Edition

Each chapter in this 31^st edition of Australian Commercial Law has been updated to incorporate the legislative amendments and case law developments since the last edition. The more significant changes made in the new edition include the following:

• The Contract chapters incorporate the High Court decisions in Crown Melbourne Ltd v Cosmopolitan Hotel (Vic) Pty Ltd (2016) on estoppel (Ch 5) and collateral contracts (Ch 9); Gnych v Polish Club Ltd (2015) concerning illegal contracts (Ch 8); and Paciocco v Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (2016) where late payment fees on credit cards were held not to constitute penalties (Ch 12). 

• Consumer Protection (Ch 17) includes the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Payment Surcharges) Act 2016 (Cth) which prohibits excessive credit card surcharges and the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Small Business and Unfair Contract Terms) Act 2015 (Cth), which extends the unfair contracts provisions of the Australian Consumer Law to standard form small business contracts. Case law includes the decisions of the Federal Court in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Chrisco Hampers Australia Pty Ltd (2015) on unfair contract terms and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Reebok Australia Pty Ltd(2015) concerning false or misleading representations about the performance characteristics, benefits or uses of goods.

• Restrictive Trade Practices (Ch 18) incorporates the discussion of the concept of “market” by the Federal Court in Flight Centre Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (2015) and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (2015).

• Negotiable Instruments II – Cheques (Ch 24) includes the recent Court of Appeal of Victoria decision in National Australia Bank Ltd v Rose (2016) on the effect of non-compliance with the Code of Banking Practice on bank guarantees.

• Torts (Ch 28) contains the significant High Court decisions in Attwells v Jackson Lalic Lawyers Pty Ltd (2016) concerning the scope of advocate’s immunity; Badenach v Calvert (2016) on the duty of care of a solicitor to a beneficiary under a will; Brookfield Multiplex Ltd v Owners Corpn Strata Plan 61288 (2014) regarding the liability of a builder for latent defects in a commercial apartment complex; and King v Philcox (2015) on damages for mental harm.

• Intellectual Property (Ch 30) outlines the Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act 2015 (Cth). The chapter also considers the High Court decisions in D’Arcy v Myriad Genetics Inc (2015) that claims for the isolated “breast cancer gene” BRCA1 were not patentable and Cantarella Bros Pty Ltd v Modena Trading Pty Ltd(2014) on the meaning of “inherently adapted” in trade marks law. This chapter also incorporates the recent Full Federal Court decision in Scandinavian Tobacco Group Eersel BV v Trojan Trading Company Pty Ltd (2016) regarding parallel importing. The principal features of the new Franchising Code of Conduct are summarised.