2006

• Government Purchasing Processes Set for the Biggest Change in Years - March 2006

  Knowledge of government procurement processes is important not only for the public sector but also for savvy vendors that want to optimise their chances of winning government business. A new trade agreement is set to change the landscape.
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2005

• On-line Porn and Other Workplace Vices - December 2005

  Earlier this year porn on Police computers hit the news and caused a media frenzy. However, for all organisations, porn is just one aspect of on-line risk...
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• Public Sector Purchasing and the Ombudsman: A New Decision - November 2005

  Public sector procurement raises many legal and probity issues ...
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• A Wider Role for In-House Lawyers - July 2005

  London’s Financial Times of 14 July has an interesting article, “A wider role for in-house lawyers” ...
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• Supreme Court Reverses Lord of the Rings Employment Decision - June 2005

  The Supreme Court decision revolves around procedural rather than substantive issues and the law described in our earlier paper largely continues to apply ...
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• Consultation Obligations and Public Sector Agencies - June 2005

  This article outlines some of the principles by which decision makers (usually public sector but sometimes private sector) should make their decisions, using an example from an Electricity decision by the Commerce Commission...
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• Commerce Commission's April 2005 UBS Draft Telecommunications Act Determination: An Overview - May 2005

  The UBS (ie: ADSL) draft determination by the Commission is a major milestone for the Internet community. We summarise what it says ...
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• Police On-line Porn Blitz: Implications for Other Organisations - May 2005

  The Police problems with on-line porn look set to spread across the public sector and increase focus on the private sector too. This Computerworld Article gives an "executive summary" overview of the issues ...
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• Police On-line Porn Blitz: The Detail - May 2005

  Following the last article, here's the detail ...
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• Prosecutions for Supply or Use of Unlicensed Software & Other Intellectual Property: A New Case - April 2005

  In a March 2005 case, an IP pirater got off due to a technicality. But, particularly after the 2003 amendment to the Crimes Act, there are enough ways that those who distribute and use pirated and unlicensed IP, such as software, can be prosecuted ...
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• Telecommunications Regulation: An introduction to the latest in the Internet/Data Space, and what can ISPs and others do about it? - April 2005

  There’s a lot happening under the Telecommunications Act and in the regulatory space that affects Internet and data ...
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• Tenders, RFPs and Competitive Purchasing: Traps for Unwary Buyers & Sellers - April 2005

  Tenders, RFPs and competitive purchasing is a very important part of the IT sector, particularly in dealings with public sector agencies ...
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• Contractual Indemnities: Public & Private Sector Implications - April 2005

  Indemnities are part of the overall risk allocation matrix and should not be considered in isolation from broader liability and limitation of liability issues ...
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• Legal Developments in IT Security - 10th Annual IT Security Summit - April 2005

  This paper updates our comprehensive IT security summaries in 2003 and 2004, and deals with recent developments ...
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• Queen's Counsel Battles Air New Zealand: Can a Supplier Unilaterally Change Contract Terms? - February 2005

  When a vendor selling to multiple customers wants to change its terms, that can be a nightmare (in practice it is largely impossible to get every customer to sign up to new terms) ...
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• Confidential Information Breaches Can be Difficult to Prove - February 2005

  A 2004 Court of Appeal decision illustrates that it is not always easy for parties to protect confidential information. Nor is it always easy to reduce competition by way of confidential information clauses ...
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• Are Subcontractors liable to the Head Contractor's Ultimate Customer? A Rolls-Royce Answer - February 2005

  Projects often involve subcontracts. A subcontractor can cause loss direct to its head contractor's customer. Can it be liable to the customer directly? We look at this exposure, and the ways of reducing this exposure ...
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• Some contracts make 'a mockery of methodology' - February 2005

  In this interview reported in Computerworld, Michael Wigley comments on some of the current issues in respect of IT contracts including new approaches, the importance of the people, and intellectual property ...
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• Limitation of liability and related issues: Impact on suppliers & purchasers - February 2005

  One of the key issues (if not the key issue) in contracts is the limitation of a vendor's liability. While there are limitation of liability clauses, there are other issues as well such as service levels and rebates, indemnities, contractual risk etc ...
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2004

• Lord of the Rings Clarifies the Independent Contractor-Employee Divide - December 2004

  Many independent contractors work in the public and private sectors. Often they come close to employee status. Whether someone is an employee or a contractor is significant ...
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• Contracts with your various Internet-Related Service Providers: What to look out for - November 2004

  Agreements with web service providers come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from contracts with ISPs through to website hosting, website development, content management services and support agreements ...
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• Service Level Agreements - Are they worth the paper they are written on? - November 2004

  SLAs are an important feature in the IT world. But often they don't meet the needs of providers, customers or both. In this paper we deal with the benefits and pitfalls, and suggest how best to craft them ...
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• Computer users face Foot & Mouth risk: Cyber-crooks - November 2004

  Computer users face Foot & Mouth risk. Organisations face on-line legal risk in many areas. In this Telecommunications Review article, Michael Wigley identifies the legal risks and answers to those risks ...
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• Non-litigators working with and controlling Litigators - November 2004

  We deal with civil litigation such as damages claims and judicial review, from the perspective of a non-specialist dealing with litigation lawyers. We touch on what to watch out for; how best to work in with and control the litigators; reducing costs ...
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• Telecommunication Service Level Agreements - Are they worth the paper they are written on? - November 2004

  Telecommunications SLAs are an important feature in the IT world. But often they don't meet the needs of providers, customers or both. In this paper we deal with the benefits and pitfalls and suggest how best to craft them ...
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• Project Managers & Lawyers: A beautiful relationship? - October 2004

  Lawyers knock out their boilerplate. Project managers cobble together their Gantt charts, and the technical people craft beautiful specifications. But does that mean much, compared to what might be the most important issue in any project?
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• International Web Risk - September 2004

  On 17 August 2004, the High Court in New Zealand decided that the pivotal decision of Australia’s highest Court (the High Court of Australia), in relation to international liability for on‑line defamation, applies in New Zealand ...
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• Tying up loose ends, and dispute resolution, in ICT contracts: Quicker, simpler, and better solutions? - September 2004

  There is plenty of ground for difference of opinion under IT contracts. If things have to go all the way to arbitration, there's lots of delay ...
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• What do document managers need to know from a legal perspective? - August 2004

  Decisions about document management pivot mainly around practical matters, commercial and public sector requirements, audit needs, etc, rather than specific legal requirements ...
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• Electronic Health Records - June 2004

  Electronic health records are an important issue in the health sector. Wigley & Company spoke at the NZ Electronic Health Records Summit in Auckland both in 2003 and 2004 and this paper deals with the EHR risks and solutions ...
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• Corporate Governance and IT - May 2004

  Information technology, intellectual property, information in company databases, and availability of computer systems, are increasingly more central and critical to business ...
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• Mike Hosking & Naomi Campbell develop privacy & confidentiality law - May 2004

  In important decisions, the House of Lords and our Court of Appeal have clarified the law relating to privacy and confidentiality ...
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• Ensuring your Legal and IT Security - 9th Annual IT Security Summit - April 2004

  Wigley & Company presented in 2003 and 2004 at the Annual IT Security Summit in Auckland ...
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• Digital Record Keeping: Legal Aspects - March 2004

  In March 2004, Wigley & Company presented at the Archives New Zealand Record Keeping Forum, dealing with implications of archiving requirements in an electronic context ...
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• Computer Security and the Law - February 2004

  Computer security is of course important and the law goes some way to provide remedies against computer crooks and others ...
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2003

• Electronic Transactions Act 2002: An opportunity to streamline public sector processes - November 2003

  The Electronic Transactions Act is a platform for streamlining public sector processes ...
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• Documents & Records Management - Electronic Transactions Act 2002 - October 2003

  The ETA, within its scope, provides plenty of opportunity to streamline processes. But application in each instance needs to be carefully considered ...
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• Legal Compliance and IT Security - 8th Annual IT Security Summit - August 2003

  In 2003 Wigley & Company spoke at the Bright Star Annual IT Security Summit. This paper deals with developments in relation to computer crimes, confidentiality, employee issues, etc ...
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• SCO v IBM: The Linux Spat - May 2003

  Part of the open source debate revolves around the SCOs, IBM litigation over Linux ...
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• What to do when IT contracts are going wrong (and what to do to reduce risk) - May 2003

  IT contracts are notorious for failure and underperformance. While not many cases go to litigation, it is as well to know what the risks are ...
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• Can ISPs read customer's emails? - April 2003

  An ISP that read its customer's emails ended up in court and the case shows the risks that are faced ...
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• Software Escrow Agreements: A business continuity strategy - April 2003

  Where software is licensed, one of the strategies to minimise the licensee's risk is to have the software held in escrow with a trusted third party ...
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• Online Transactions & Security Risk: A brief overview - March 2003

  In March 2003 Wigley & Company addressed the Asia Oceania Electronic Marketplace Association on online transactions and security risk ...
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• Getting closer & building positive relationships: Working together in Commerce & Technology - February 2003

  There is a lot of talk about "partnership" between vendors and purchasers and similar closer relationships. We get to the bottom of the issues ...
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• Heresy: Consideration not needed in contracts - February 2003

  Historically, consideration generally had to pass between parties before there could be a binding contract ...
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2002

• $4.6M Claim against Clear for Internet Service Failure: What can suppliers learn - October 2002

  Technology and communications services can carry multi-million dollar exposure. Clear Communications narrowly avoided this ...
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• Confidentiality and Restraint of Trade: Practical Issues - October 2002

  Confidentiality and restraint of trade are two related and important issues that come up time and again in the technology sector ...
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• Detail Matters: Don't leave fine print to lawyers - July 2002

  Many agreements set out brief details, with more information to be provided later ...
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• Email Contracts and Email Risks - July 2002

  Most contracts can be concluded by email: the real issue is the degree of risk involved ...
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• Exporting Technology: Reducing legal and dollar risk - July 2002

  International contracts in the technology area are often difficult to handle because it will be too difficult or complicated to get offshore legal advice ...
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• Effective Transactions On-Line - Liability for On-line Statements - June 2002

  This paper deals with the effect of transactions online and liability for online statements ...
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• Open Source Software - April 2002

  Open source is a burning issue in the industry and has particularly difficult legal issues ...
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