Airborne Effrontery: Dealing with an unwanted drone over-flight under Australian law

March 2016Regulation Industry

Abstract

This paper surveys the existing laws in Australia which impact on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly called UAVs or ‘drones’). It considers the regulatory controls on the users of such aircraft, and then looks to what legal rights an enterprise might have in response to an unwanted impact of such use from the perspective of an in-house counsel. In particular, the paper considers privacy law, the availability of the torts of trespass, nuisance, negligence, and liability for personal injury and property damage caused by drones, as well as breach of confidence and intellectual property rights. The paper tests the application of well-established legal principles against possible scenarios involving this new technology and identifies areas where current laws need to catch up.

Subscribe to reador

Governance Is Tested When Rules Become Inconvenient Every institution eventually encounters a defining moment. It is rarely triggered by a financial crisis, regulatory investigation or reputational scandal. Rather, it arises when...Read more

Jeffery Tan

Group General Counsel & Chief Sustainability Officer, Jardine Cycle & Carriage Limited, Singapore

Reforming Shareholders’ Meetings in Italy: Considerations on the Emerging Reform of the Consolidated Finance Act

While this article was in proof, the Italian Government approved the reform of the capital markets framework. At the time of writing, the final consolidated text, although in line with...Read more

Giuseppe Catalano

Company Secretary and Head of Corporate Affairs, Assicurazioni Generali, Italy

Regulation Best Interest 5 Years Later

The adoption of Regulation Best Interest (“Reg BI”) marked one of the most consequential shifts in US securities regulation since the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It replaced the long-standing...Read more

Airborne Effrontery: Dealing with an unwanted drone over-flight under Australian law

Abstract

Related Papers