Matthew Darke

A sacked Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills partner seeking $13 million in compensation from his former firm and Lendlease has been criticised for claiming that whistleblower protections introduced in 2019 “wouldn’t make sense” if they did not apply retroactively.

A contradictor in two pelvic mesh class actions against Johnson & Johnson and unit Ethicon has told the court of the “extraordinary amount of group member unhappiness” following approval of a $300 million settlement – the largest in the history of Australian product liability group proceedings.

A judge has ordered two AMP units to pay a total of $24 million after finding the wealth manager acted unconscionably in charging insurance premiums and advice fees to deceased customers.

An appeals court has shot down funder Augusta’s challenge to a decision that cut its commission in the Opal Tower class action, putting funders on notice that they will have to marshal compelling evidence to win approval for their returns from an increasingly watchful court.

Google has denied class action that it distorted competition in the app marketplace and left consumers paying higher prices, pointing out in its defence there are alternative app stores on its Android platform.

US singer Katy Perry and an Australian fashion designer are at loggerheads over court orders to be made following a judge’s finding the pop star was liable for trade mark infringement, with concerns raised that Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream’ shorts could “fall between the cracks”. 

Apple has denied it engaged in anti-competitive conduct in operating its App Store in a class action brought over allegedly inflated commissions on certain apps and in-app purchases.

A shareholder class action against software company Nuix will go ahead as planned, after a stay application threatened to put the proceeding on ice pending the outcome of a separate case brought by ASIC.

An infringement ruling against US singer Katy Perry in a case brought by an Australian fashion designer is a “win for the little guy”, experts say, showing that fame doesn’t give celebrities a blank cheque to exploit their brand at the expense of someone’s else’s registered trade mark.

In what a judge has dubbed a “tale of two women, two teenage dreams and one name”, US pop star Katy Perry has lost her bid to cancel the “Katie Perry” trade mark owned by an Australian designer and has been barred her from using her stage name to market clothing merchandise.