Cindy Cameronne

The High Court has been asked to weigh in on whether online ads targeting Australian consumers can be the basis for a trade mark registration, in a long-running intellectual property spat between the maker of Mother Energy drinks and Vittoria Coffee over their respective ‘mother’ marks.

Optus has been hit with a class action on behalf of current and former customers whose personal information was exposed in a massive data breach last September that affected up to 10 million people. 

Reforms to simplify and modernise Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime will see lawyers and accountants subject to the regulations for the first time.

A judge has slammed as a “schemozzle” a law firm’s attempt to drop a class action by Telstra employees over the telecom giant’s COVID-19 vaccine policy, saying it failed to seek court approval for the discontinuance or give notice to group members as required.

Qoin cryptocurrency issuer BPS Financial is fighting a class action applicant’s bid to amend its case for the fourth time, saying it is trying to bring an “entirely new claim”.

The Federal Court’s new Chief Justice Debra Mortimer will bring a sense of adventure to her role as top judge, which she foreshadowed will be approached holistically in a welcome ceremony before pre-eminent members of the legal community. 

The National Australia Bank and its former head of repo trading both “might need a bit of a reality check” in a discovery stoush, a judge has said in a case alleging the senior employee was bullied and paid less than other workers because of her gender.

A sacked Myer executive has brought Fair Work proceedings against her former employer, seeking over $700,000 in compensation after she was allegedly unfairly dismissed for complaining about a general manager’s “belittling” conduct. 

Approved settlements in class actions since the regime was enacted are set to top $8 billion this year, according to a new report ranking the busiest litigation funders, which found most class action mega settlements were not funder backed.

Last year saw the lowest number of new class action filings in Australia since 2016, according to a new report.