Recent News
Trademarks: Tips for Protecting your Point of Difference
Trademarks are a staple of the commercial world. Some of the most well-known and well-loved icons of commerce are trademarks. They present attributes of businesses and their products, and convey messages of quality and reputation. And with the title of trademark...Licences and Permits: An Approach for Budding Businessowners
Businesses begin as ideas. For a lot of small business owners, a business is a certain type of creative expression. It is a combination of hard work, careful planning, and a bit of personal touch as well. So, if you’re in the process of developing a new business...Commercial Risk Management: Dodging Disputes
Every commercial activity carries with it some risk of dispute. Sometimes, that risk is so slight as to be negligible. But other times, the risks associated with a commercial action are significant. To understand the risks your business may face in respect of any...IP Rights: When Does Your Business Own What Employees Create?
All businesses create value. They may do it in different ways, but the creation of value is what underpins commerce. For some businesses, a service is the source of value on which they rely. Others create products. Generally, the value created by services or...Product Liability: What Manufacturers, Importers, and Vendors Need to Know
Product liability is an area of law with some unusual features. In fact, there’s relatively little awareness of product liability and its reach among many manufacturers, importers, and vendors. There’s good reason for that, too: it’s quite complex! So let’s start...Dealing With Disputes: Some Helpful Hints
Disputes are commonplace in the business world. Whether between suppliers, clients, customers, or competitors, most disputes are capable of early and informal resolution. But not all disputes will come to an end that way. In the life of every business, there are...Misleading Conduct and Marketing: The Rules of Proper Promotion
Marketing: it’s effectively the basis of all successful businesses. Whether you’re selling goods or services, your success depends on your customer or client base. And building that client base is impossible without some form of publicity. Often, the best marketing...Service Agreements: A Service Provider’s Perspective
Service agreements are an important part of business. Often, they are considered from a purchaser’s perspective. But service agreements are just as important for service providers. A well-drafted service agreement will ensure that both parties in a service...Directors’ Duties: How do They Affect your Business?
As a small to medium business owner, you’ve no doubt got a lot of regulations to contend with. Almost all commercial conduct is regulated in one way or another. However, some regulations are a little more complex. Take directors’ duties, for example. Directors’...Social Media Marketing and the Law: The Small Business Guide
Starting a new business requires careful planning. It also requires publicity. Publicity is what connects you to your consumers, regardless of your chosen field. Whether you offer good or services, you need consumers. Fortunately, in the digital age, reaching them...Partnership and Shareholders’ Agreements: What You Need to Know
Businesses often start as an idea. Sometimes, they start as a personal idea that you have cultivated and pursued over the course of your career. More often, though, they start as an idea between friends, colleagues, or professional acquaintances. After all,...Starting a New Business: Companies, Trusts, Partnerships, Sole Traders, and Joint Ventures
Starting a new business is exciting. It’s an opportunity to weave your commercial ideas into something tangible, and productive. But it’s not without its challenges. The formation period allows you to lay the foundations of your future success. However, there’s a...When a Director Departs: What Executives Need to Consider
In a previous article, we spoke about restraint clauses. But we didn’t cover restraint clauses in relation to company directors, who want to start their own companies. Like most employees, company directors have access to the inner mechanisms of a business. Unlike...Restraint of Trade Clauses and your Rights
Almost everyone has signed an employment agreement or contract before. Usually, it’s an experience filled with budding opportunity. After all, employment is the gateway to a long and fulfilling career. However, for some people that agreement can gradually become a...Fraud in Business: Recognising the Signs
In terms of business-related crimes, fraud is among the more common. However, recognising fraud is more challenging than most realise. All fraud offences are predicated on an element of dishonesty. But that is generally the extent of their similarities. Fraud offences...Confidentiality Agreements: Protecting Your Information
Confidential information may be confidential for a range of reasons. It might be a trade secret—something that must remain secret for the sake of your business. Alternatively, it may be confidential for reasons of privacy; perhaps your business stores customer data,...Criminal Anti-Competition Laws in Australia
Business and competition go hand in hand. For a business to grow, that business must compete with others in its field. However, there is a limit on what conduct is permissible in terms of remaining competitive as a business. Conduct that exceeds that limit risks...Bribery of Government Officials: An Offence in the Commonwealth Criminal Code
Bribery is a widely accepted and well-known crime. It is not unique to Australia, and most consider it a pretty easy crime to identify. However, as with all crimes, there are grey areas. Occasionally, during the course of business, company owners or representative...Tax Crimes in Australia
Introduction Tax crimes are many and varied. There is a diverse and wide-ranging spectrum of tax crimes in Australia, all of which attract different penalties. And, while most business owners are aware of their obligation to pay tax, navigating the system itself can...Corporate Criminal Liability: Criminality and the Divide Between Individuals and Companies
Introduction It has long been recognised in Australia that companies may be held liable for the crimes they commit. That is to say, if a company commits an offence, or breaks the law, it will be punished as if it were an individual. Often, though, complications arise...What is Champerty and Maintenance?
Introduction Champerty and maintenance is an unusual term; it doesn’t receive much attention, for the most part. Of course, its name is derived from archaic terms. Those terms were used to describe the maintenance of legal proceedings by a disinterested third party,...The Tort of Intimidation: When is it a Crime and When is it a Tort?
Introduction The idea of intimidation in a business context is concerning to any business owner. It’s not common, but when it occurs there is more than money at stake. Intimidating conduct can have a serious personal toll. That is why the law is positioned to...When Does Defamation Affect your Business and What Can you do About it?
Introduction Of the economic torts, defamation is emerging as one that we see more frequently than others. It is also one of the more widely known and referenced. However, often, references to defamation don’t do justice to its complex nature. Recognising defamation...Deliberate and Direct Interference: The Tumultuous Tort of Inducing Breach of Contract
Introduction A contractual relationship is not often considered within the scope of torts law. In fact, it is a distinct area of the law, governed by a series of well-established principles. It is well-known, as well, that contractual relationships give rise to...Economic Torts: Limits on the Conduct of Business
Introduction The world of business is inherently competitive. Often, business owners can feel as though they’re on the defensive, with other commercial entities constantly growing around them. Of course, for many, that is simply the nature of business. But there are...What is Insider Trading?
Insider trading is a financial crime. Although it does not receive quite as much attention as other financial crimes, such as fraud, it remains relatively pervasive. However, the classification of insider trading is quite complex, and below, there is a more extended...Protecting Commercial Information: Confidentiality Agreements and the Duty of Confidence
Introduction Confidential information may not be something that most people associate with ordinary business. However, most businesses deal with information that demands a certain degree of confidentiality. That information may not necessarily relate to daily...What is a Guarantor?
Introduction In any commercial agreement or transaction, financial security is key. All parties to an agreement want to ensure that their interests are protected. However, that’s not always an easy thing to ensure. After all, there are plenty of variables to take into...How to Protect your Personal Assets as a Business Owner
Introduction As a business owner, you put a lot into your work. Time, effort, and money are the main foundations of a successful business. Often, though, operating a business is an exchange and what you put in is what you get out. As a result, you can find your...What is a Company Constitution?
Introduction Most people are familiar with the term constitution. However, that’s normally in the context of countries and governments. Far fewer people are familiar with the laws surrounding company constitutions. That’s understandable, too; company constitutions are...Testimonials
Company Director, Brisbane
Joe Kafrouni has been our company’s lawyer from the beginning and has been instrumental in our journey as company owners and directors. When dealing with both complex and sensitive company issues, Joe is able to provide us with clearly articulated strategies that are well thought‐out and with the bigger picture in mind. He genuinely cares and is always willing to share his personal views, which are both honest and just. Joe is highly professional and knowledgeable in his field. You will definitely benefit having him on your team.
News & Publications
Social Media Marketing and the Law: The Small Business Guide
Starting a new business requires careful planning. It also requires publicity. Publicity is what connects you to your consumers, regardless of your chosen field. Whether you offer good or services, you need consumers. Fortunately, in the digital age, reaching them...Australian Company Law – Small Business Guide
The laws applying to Australian companies are substantial and complex. The key to Australian company law is the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), as amended from time to time. It is a delight that a recent amendment created a “plain English” guide to company...A Practical Legal Guide to Starting a Business
This Guide is designed for use by business people and professional advisers when starting a business. The purpose of the Guide is to explain some of the key issues, specific risks and the potential for getting things wrong and some opportunities where professional...A Practical Legal Guide to Buying A Business
This Guide is designed for use by buyers of businesses, business brokers and professional advisers when buying a business. The purpose of the Guide is to explain some of the key issues, specific risks and the potential for getting things wrong and some opportunities...Trademarks: Tips for Protecting your Point of Difference
Trademarks are a staple of the commercial world. Some of the most well-known and well-loved icons of commerce are trademarks. They present attributes of businesses and their products, and convey messages of quality and reputation. And with the title of trademark come certain legal protections. But to enjoy the protections of trademarking laws, trademarks cannot simply be declared by a business. Trademarks must be registered under a legal process. To qualify for registration, trademarks must possess a number of characteristics, too. Most notably, they must represent a product or service. read more…
Licences and Permits: An Approach for Budding Businessowners
Businesses begin as ideas. For a lot of small business owners, a business is a certain type of creative expression. It is a combination of hard work, careful planning, and a bit of personal touch as well. So, if you’re in the process of developing a new business from scratch, it’s understandable that your focus might remain on the bigger picture. You might be concerned primarily with questions of how to appeal to customers, how to stand out from the crowd, and how to run a fulfilling business. However, they’re not the only questions that need to be answered.
Commercial Risk Management: Dodging Disputes
Every commercial activity carries with it some risk of dispute. Sometimes, that risk is so slight as to be negligible. But other times, the risks associated with a commercial action are significant. To understand the risks your business may face in respect of any given activity, it’s important to know when disputes might arise, and what is at stake when they do.
IP Rights: When Does Your Business Own What Employees Create?
All businesses create value. They may do it in different ways, but the creation of value is what underpins commerce. For some businesses, a service is the source of value on which they rely. Others create products. Generally, the value created by services or physical products goes first to the business. From there, it is distributed among employees as wages. It’s well accepted that even though an employee creates a product, the employee does not own that product. But what if an employee creates value that is neither a product, nor a service? If an employee creates intellectual property (IP), the question of ownership can become more complicated. So, let’s take a look at intellectual property rights, and how they interact with the employee/employer relationship.
Leadership
Our firm is led by Joe Kafrouni, with over twenty years' experience in law. Joe is a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in business law. “I am driven to help my clients succeed."
Expertise
We are business law specialists focused on the smaller end of town - SME, private and family companies only. We help business people start, buy, grow and exit businesses and solve business disputes.
Where We See Our Clients
We are based at:
Newstead: Level 2, Lobby 1, Gasworks Plaza, 76 Skyring Terrace, Newstead, Qld, 4006.
Parking: 2 hours free parking available at Newstead offices.
Our office is only one option – we are not attached to them. Here is how we regularly meet our clients. Tell us what suits you.
Contact us at:
- Phone: +61 7 3103 3199
- Email: info@klaw.com.au
