Category Archive

Effluent Discharge Prosecutions under the Resource Management Act Regional Councils take unlawful effluent discharge, especially when it enters waterways, extremely seriously. Under the Resource Management Act (RMA) any discharge is unlawful if it breaches the permitted activity rule in your region. The severity of the fines imposed has recently increased significantly as the government cracks down on polluters, with the maximum fine available now $600,000. Many farmers in New Zealand have faced prosecution under the RMA, as despite their best intentions things can go wrong and damage is regrettably caused to the environment.  Having charges filed against either your farming company or you personally can be a daunting and worrying time. It is important to get legal representation from lawyers who have experience in effluent discharge matters who can step you through your rights and your next steps, resolving the matter as quickly and satisfactorily as possible. Mark Copeland Lawyers … Read More

“Copyright” refers to the right of someone to make copies of a particular material. If you hold copyright over something, no one can reproduce it in any way without your permission. But do you hold the copyright over your own likeness? One would naturally assume that a person must hold absolute rights over their own image. The legal reality however is a little more complicated. Broadly, things that occur naturally are unable to be copyrighted. There must be an element of the man-made for the creator to assert copyright. Your facial features, although unique to you, are a product of nature. In practice however, there are options available to you to protect your image. Copyright can be asserted over photographs and is covered under the Copyright Act. If your image is used to promote a product or service without your consent, you have remedies under the Fair Trading Act to … Read More

Commercial lawyer Mark Copeland of Mark Copeland Lawyers at Rotorua and Auckland has been appointed as Chairman of the Legal and Ethics Committee of the International Paralympics Committee in Bonn, Germany. Pursuant to this role he is responsible for the determination of all complaints made under the IPC Code of Ethics, and also acts as Chairman of the Board of Classification of Appeals (BAC), the IPC Tribunal which deals with challenges to the classification of disabled athletes within Paralympic sport. Mark has had a long involvement with Paralympic sport, including as Chairman of Paralympics New Zealand between 2009 and 2015. httpss://www.paralympic.org/

I was watching this interview with my IR Global friend Joao Coriel of Portugal, and thought he does a really good job of explaining what IR Global is all about. httpss://youtu.be/nr7C-7P_Gcc  

Joint ventures can be an efficient and effective way to access new markets, develop new products or explore new industries.   Mark Copeland of MLC Lawyers specialising in Commercial and Rural Law collaborated with IR Global Members to discuss.  See page 10 for a New Zealand perspective … Click link below to download the brochure: IR Global Virtual Series – Collaborations Across Borders  

Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 – How the changes affect you, our valued clients. As from 1 July 2018 all lawyers must comply with the recent changes made to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (the AML/CFT law). In line with New Zealand’s commitment to the international initiative to combat money laundering and terrorist financing lawyers, and other professionals, must do a number of things to help the Police bring criminals to justice. This is what the AML/CFT law calls “customer due diligence”. For us, customer due diligence means that we need to undertake background checks before providing services to our clients. In order to meet our legal obligations we must take all reasonable steps to verify that the information we receive from clients is correct and supported by documentation. This applies even if you have been a client of … Read More

Following a review of all the submissions for the IR Global ‘Member of the Year 2018’, I am pleased to advise you have made the shortlist of 15x firms. As you can imagine, the submissions are of a very high quality this year, so to be on a short list of 15 from over 900+ members is a great achievement. Ross Nicholls Business Development Director, IR Global

Mark Copeland a specialist in Commercial and Rural law was a facilitor at the inaugural  Taiopenga Hangarau Rotorua Tech Festival at the end of June. He shared his knowledge on the various types of formal IP protection available, and when you might best use them to keep your IP from being stolen or abused. He also covered how to properly managing your IP, in all its forms, recognising the value it provides to your business. Check out the Maori TV’s Te Kaea episode covering this great initiative.

– on his firm’s philosophy, the current New Zealand property market and the structures available for Real Estate investments.