Judgment

A judge has knocked back a bid by the Australian Federal Police to have an upcoming trial over an allegedly defamatory press conference run on a stripped-back ‘first impression’ basis.

Select AFSL, its related entities and its director have been slapped with $13.6 million in penalties after a judge found that the life insurer used unconscionable phone sales tactics to “wear down” often vulnerable consumers, including migrants and Indigenous communities.

The government of Peru has appealed a ruling that rejected its bid to trade mark the alcoholic spirit pisco, after an IP Australia delegate found Aussie consumers think of more than Peruvian pisco when they see the name.

Australian banknote manufacturer CCL Secure has succeeded a second time in opposing a patent application by British rival De La Rue International for banknote security technology.

A judge has criticised HWL Ebsworth’s discovery efforts and ordered the law firm to try again in the firm’s dispute with a former partner claiming the company cut him out of a proposed ASX float in 2020. 

A judge has rejected an amended copyright case against US-based analytics company CoreLogic, expressing his displeasure at the use of imprecise phrases like ‘including’ and “such as’ in the revised pleading.

Mining magnate Clive Palmer and his company Mineralogy have lost a bid to amend one of two cases that claim losses totalling $4 billion against CITIC after a judge found the amended claims would be “unfairly general”.

The developer of healthcare directory app Whitecoat must pay health insurer and joint venture partner NIB $1.6 million for loans that were never repaid following the app’s sale to the Commonwealth Bank for $42.5 million in 2021. 

In a decade-old dispute, Viterra has lost an appeal of a judgment holding it liable to pay Cargill Australia $293 million for misrepresentations about the performance of its malt producer Joe White, which it sold to Cargill for $420 million in 2013.

Hannover Life Re should be allowed tax credits for GST paid on a share of its overheads, including rent and power, a judge has found in a partial win for the reinsurer.