Legal Aspects of International Trade and Enterprise: Oracle Corporation in Australia

This paper examines the legal framework surrounding Oracle Corporation's operations in Australia. It delves into the relevant Australian legislation, including the Corporations Act 2001, intellectual property laws, consumer protection regulations, and privacy policies. The paper also explores the impact of international agreements like TRIPS and the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement on Oracle's business activities. Furthermore, it analyzes significant acquisitions, such as Sun Microsystems, and the company's global expansion strategy, highlighting the role of the Oracle Open World convention in fostering international collaboration.

HI5015 LEGAL ASPECTS OF
INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND
ENTERPRISE
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Table of Contents
Question 1:.................................................................................................................................3
Question 2:.................................................................................................................................3
Question 3:.................................................................................................................................5
References:.................................................................................................................................8
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Question 1:
Oracle Corporation is a multinational company dealing with Marketing and database
software and cloud technology. It has it’s headquarter is situated in Redwood shores,
California. It was founded on 16th June 1977 in Santa Clara, California, USA. Mark Hurd
and SafraCatz are company’s current CEOs (Limited, 2018).It provides its service
worldwide. There are almost 138,000 employees working for Oracle Corp. all around the
world. After Microsoft it is the second largest software developing company of the world.
Oracle has six offices in Australia namely, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra
and Perth. Oracle Corp was incorporated in 1986 based in North Ryde, Australia. Oracle
Australia Holdings Pvt. Ltd is Oracle Corporation’s subsidiary. Oracle has its own brand’s
data Management System. The company provides its service primarily in building tools for
database development and middle tier software. Other software includes Customer
relationship management (CRM), Supply chain management Software (SCM) and Enterprise
resource planning software (ERP).
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Question 2:
Oracle Corporation is having office at five places in Australia. The company works in the
technology sector which means it is regulated by all the laws which are applicable on a
company or corporations in Australia, including supervision by the various commercial
agencies of Australia. Oracle has their privacy policy made in compliance with the legal
regulations of Australia.
Corporations Act of 2001 is applicable on Oracle Corporation which deals with the
formation of the company and all the other formalities which helps in the operation of a
company. All the other procedure for the proper functioning of a company such as
prescription of duties of employees and employers, Investment, fundraising and revenue is
dealt as per the provisions of the corporations act of 2001 (Gorton, 2018). Oracle Corp
complies with the provisions of the Act.
Intellectual property law in Australia consist of a number of Acts which includes Patent Act
of 1990, Trademarks Act of 1995 and Design Act of 2003. All the new software and any
technology which is invented by the company are patented under the patent law of Australia.
Company is trademarked under the name of Oracle Corporation itself. Oracle Corp works and
uses the nick name ‘Oracle’ in public. Oracle does not allow the use of its mark of company,
product or services, logo, domain name or trade dress. Oracle allows using the name only
with attributes of trademark only.
There are various commercial and security agencies in Australia which are responsible for
supervision of revenue and working of the company. They set out a number of principles and
regulations which need to be complied with by every business entity. Australian Consumer
Law (ACL) which keeps a check on the working and policy of the company regarding the
view of consumer. Oracle appoints Global Data Protection Officers at various places. The
main purpose of these officers is to provide consumer protection if any of the personal
information of the consumer is used in a way which not in compliance with the privacy
policy or which violates the rights of the consumer (Oracle.com. 2018). Any consumer if
have any issues regarding the personal information, which has been submitted to the
company, can write to the Global Data Protection Officer. Australian Information
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Commission (OIAC) also deals with setting out rules for the companies regarding the
protection of information data of the customers (Gorton, 2018).
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)provides rules and
regulations which are supposed to be followed by the business to allow free and free trading
to take place among companies and corporations.
Under Australian Fiscal Policy is supervised under three heads namely, Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority (APRA), Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Australian Securities
and Investment Commission (AISC).
Bylaws of the Oracle Corporation was adopted on 31 January 2006 and amended on June
16, 2016 by the Board of Directors. There are total 10 Articles in the act and with same
number of sections present in the act. The present bylaw relates to the companies working
and constitution of the company (Limited, 2018). Articles prescribe as to when and how
meeting of the company will be conducted. Constitution of the board of directors, election,
quorum, committees and rules. Article 6 deals with the process of Indemnification. Article 7
deals with the types of notices that the corporation is supposed to be following. Article 10
deals with the procedure prescribed for amendments. The latest amendment in the bylaw was
done by Board of Directors on 15 June 2016.
Oracle has already mentioned in their privacy policy that Oracle will not be liable for any
damage caused to the consumer due to their own negligence or in any case when they had an
option not to submit any information but subsequently they did which resulted in causing
harm to the revenue, m in any manner. The information be related to anything such as
contract, tort etc. which requires either submission of the information or terms of policy.
The software manufactured under the company name is to be subjected to every agreement
which is to be required to fulfil the requisites of its legality. These agreements include licence
agreement and agreement with the user. This allows the corporation to have specified the use
of software in a particular manner only. Licenced software cannot be modified or altered at
any cost except by the company. Company will be entitled to make changes and update the
software from time to time as it is required.
Company also follows the policy majority i.e. no minor can use the site; a person has to be an
adult get access to the company’s website. If anytime oracle fails comply with the terms of
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policy, because of any reasonable cause than it shall not be considered as waiver of any of the
rights possessed by Oracle. Oracle Corp’s Privacy policy was last updated on 25th may 2018
as required by the legal authorities. Company can change or update its policies according to
the needs and requirements of the legal authority and changing scenarios of the business
environment or territory (Aubiz, 2018). Oracle at any time on its own discretion shut down
the website and the content which is posted on its site. It can limit the access of the any
consumer or consumers depending upon the jurisdiction of a territory. It can also do so if any
court of a certain jurisdiction has ordered or asked to do so for a limited period of time or for
permanent basis. It is the duty of the company to comply with the orders and rules prescribed
by the Law or the legislations of Australia or that particular territory.
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Question 3:
Oracle Corporation is one of the biggest software Company after Microsoft. With having
multiple offices in every major country after U.S.A, company rose to fame by engaging in
agreements and treaties with various other organizations of the world. Oracle was under fire
for one of its strategy of 2002 where it started a policy called “Can’t break it, Can’t break in”
or “Unbreakable”. But even after many claims that it can be broken Oracle Corp. passed the
claim. So, it emerged as a strong technical company after that point of time.
TRIPS agreement stand for Agreements on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights. The Agreement was signed between the members of the World Trade Organization.
The main purpose of the agreement was to introduce the intellectual property law to the
world trade. It was a new concept for the member nations of the United Nations. In the
Software and business sector the landmark judgement in the case of Oracle America v
Google Inc. the court confirmed the importance of the TRIPS agreement. This changed the
concept of trade in every branch of Oracle in the world which also include Australia. In the
present case the ruling was in favour of Oracle Corporation. This case resulted in building
trust among the customers of Oracle.
U.S- Australia Free Trade Agreement Oracle Corporations was one of the members of the
ISAC5 i.e. Industry Sector Advisory Committee on Electronic and Instrumentation for
Trade Policy Matters, the said committee was formed to give opinion on the then proposed
Free trade agreement between U.S.A and Australia (IP legislation, 2018). There were so
many opinions with regard to the agreement but it created a positive trade opportunity for
both U.S and Australia in technical sector. It was decided that there will be no duty on
hardware and software parts till January 2022. This change can also be carry forwarded in
future if the agreement is a successful one. The members of the ISAC5 included the Oracle
Corp. Australia as an eminent member of the committee. The committee was created to
advise and give opinion as to what will be the effect of the agreement on various sectors of
industry which included Software technology also. After this agreement Oracle became one
of the major beneficiaries from this agreement as this became a breakthrough step in relation
between U.S and Australia in both Political as well as on the economical point of view.
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Sun Microsystems was acquired by Oracle on 27 Jan. 2010. The acquisition was valued more
than 7 billion (Aubiz, 2018). As a result of the acquisition Oracle which was earlier a
software company became one of the major software and hardware manufacturing company.
The impact of this acquisition was that Oracle stopped the developing major software such as
Sun ray software and Oracle Virtual Desktop Client Product line.
Oracle Group has recently signed an agreement with the Almuftah Group of Doha. Almuftah
Group is one of the major business entities of Qatar. The agreement deals with the business
management process. As a result of this agreement Oracle will be able to exercise control
over Almuftah Group’s Enterprise Resource Management under Cloud Digital
Transformation Platform. Oracle will exercise control over the Controlled group’s finance
and human resource. The main purpose of the agreement was to have a cost effective and
quick solution system for the consumers. It opened doors for Oracle Corp. to have its
business expanded in major countries including Australia (Almuftah, 2018).
Main purpose of the international acquisition by the Oracle as mentioned in their strategy is
to strengthen its product, development of new ideas, quick solution of problems faced by the
consumers and most important is to develop its market internationally.
There are a number of companies owned by Oracle through agreements and treaties including
Sun Microsystems. They are Siebel Systems (2005), Hyperion Corporation (2007), BEA
Systems (2008) etc. These major companies were acquired by Oracle which allowed Oracle
to be a part of International Business. It increased the number of Customers for Oracle as
well as increase trust and repute of the company among its clients.
“Oracle Open World convention”, world’s largest convention for Oracle users and employers
held in September every year. It allows the Oracle users to connect with the organisation
more closely and share ideas with each other (Oracle.com, 2018). People who are customers
of the company not able to attend the convention can take help of social media live feeds
which shows it all. In 2014 there were almost 7 million people connected to watch the live
convention on various social media platforms. It is the biggest technological convention with
almost 60000 visitors expected every year from all around the world.
Oracle Corporation has been a part of Australian Business since very long time, which helped
it to gain trust and repute among the people of the country. That is the reason why Oracle has
five offices in Australia. There were no major controversy regarding the various sectors of
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the company and the company has always been a legally established business agency. Most
of the treaties and agreements signed by the Oracle Corporation are outside Australia but they
were made keeping in mind the development of the company on an international level which
also includes Australia. Any agreement signed or treaty of which Oracle Corp. is a part as a
whole will have effect on the Australian business of the Company. The Oracle Open World
Convention invites technical gurus from all around the world and also the customers of the
company.
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References:
 Almuftah.com. 2018. Almuftah Group and Oracle Corporation Signs Cloud
Enterprise Agreement | Almuftah Group. [online] Available at:
http://www.almuftah.com/news/almuftah-group-and-oracle-corporation-signs-cloud-
enterprise-agreement.html [Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
 Aubiz.net. 2018. Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Limited - ABN, ACN, Business
names, Former names. [online] Available at: https://www.aubiz.net/company/oracle-
corporation-australia-pty-limited-003074468/ [Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
 Gorton, D., 2018. Top 8 Companies Owned by Oracle. [online] Investopedia.
Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/081816/top-8-
companies-owned-oracle-orcl.asp [Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
 Ibisworld.com.au. 2018. Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Limited - Retail. [online]
Available at:
https://www.ibisworld.com.au/australian-company-research-reports/professional-
scientific-technical-services/oracle-corporation-australia-pty-limited-company.html
[Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
 Ipaustralia.gov.au. 2018. IP legislation | IP Australia. [online] Available at:
https://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/about-us/legislation/ip-legislation [Accessed 22 Aug.
2018].
 Limited, O., 2018. Oracle Corporation Australia Pty Limited: Private Company
Information - Bloomberg. [online] Bloomberg.com. Available at:
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?
privcapid=8142049 [Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
 Oracle.com. 2018. [online] Available at:
http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/investor-relations/bylaws-176730.pdf [Accessed
22 Aug. 2018].
 Oracle.com. 2018. [online] Available at: http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/oracle-
fact-sheet-079219.pdf [Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
 Oraclefoundation.org. 2018. Oracle Privacy Policy | Oracle Australia. [online]
Available at: https://www.oraclefoundation.org/au/legal/privacy/privacy-policy.html
[Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
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 Oraclefoundation.org. 2018. Oracle Web Sites Terms of Use | Oracle Australia.
[online] Available at: https://www.oraclefoundation.org/au/legal/terms.html
[Accessed 22 Aug. 2018].
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