Judgment

Australian designer Katie Taylor has won her High Court appeal in a fight with pop star Katy Perry over the right to trade mark her name, with the court saying a Full Court ruling in Perry's favour "rewarded the wrongdoers".

A judge has granted the first-ever application to vary a contingency fee in a class action that has yet to reach settlement or judgment, but has warned his decision doesn't set a precedent for “routine variation” of group costs orders. 

A court has found that Racing NSW's appointment of an administrator to the owner of Sydney's Randwick Racecourse over financial concerns was invalid.

Acciona has won $2.1 million from Zurich Insurance and two other insurers in a case alleging it was entitled to indemnity after severe weather events damaged work on the Bruce Highway project in Queensland. 

The Public Service Association has moved to sack a legal officer for allegedly submitting false time records when working from home, but the Fair Work Commission has found its investigation lacked procedural fairness. 

Dairy company Care A2 has failed to block food producer Care Natural’s trade mark, with an IP Australia delegate finding that the word ‘care’ was not enough to render the mark deceptively similar or identical to Care A2's marks.

Crowley Australia has lost its challenge to a $6.1 million decision for contractor Latitude 63 in a payment row over the construction of fuel tanks in Darwin, with a judge rejecting claims the adjudicator should have recused himself. 

Delivering his findings on ASIC’s action against Star Entertainment executives on Thursday, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee remarked that the “self-congratulatory submissions" of former board members named in the case were "jarring”.

In finding Star Entertainment's former group general counsel liable for breaches of duty, the judge overseeing ASIC's case has questioned the chief lawyer's insistence that she "rarely gave legal advice" and that her roles with the company should be delineated.

ASIC has had mixed success in a case against former Star directors and officers, with a judge finding the casino operator’s former CEO and GC breached their duties but that claims against the former board fell short.