An IP Australia delegate has shot down Apple’s application to patent a touchscreen interface used on its electronic devices, calling the invention a “logistical scheme” for organising media files rather than a technological innovation.
A report into an explosion at a major Queensland power station that left nearly half a million people without power is not protected by legal professional privilege, with a judge finding public statements about the report show it was not commissioned for the dominant purpose of providing legal advice.
A judge has approved a $40 million settlement in a shareholder class action against collapsed engineering firm RCR Tomlinson, with almost half of the settlement to go towards a funder’s commission and legal fees.
Unable to convince an appeals court that a common law right of appeal exists, disgraced former barrister Norman O’Bryan has failed in his challenge to findings of fraud in a judgment stemming from the Banksia class action saga.
Payday lenders Cigno and BSF Solutions have appealed a decision that found they provided credit without a licence, and rejected the claim that their loan model is analogous to buy now, pay later arrangements that don’t require a licence.
The owner of a major coal power station in Western Australia has lost its bid for an inquiry into alleged misconduct by the receivers of collapsed Griffin Coal after they tried to avoid obligations under coal supply agreements, with a judge saying the allegations were “relatively trivial”.
Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has yet to engage lawyers to pursue his appeal of a judge’s finding that he raped colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House, but while he has the right to represent himself, experts have told Lawyerly it would be “very unwise” for him to run the case on his own.
The founders of streetwear retailer City Beach have won a fight with the ATO over the taxation of a $52 million disposal of pre-capital gains tax assets.
The High Court has declined to step in after Hells Angels’ award of $78,000 in damages for online marketplace Redbubble’s infringement of its trade marks was slashed to just $100, bringing to an end an IP fight that has stretched on for nearly a decade.
The High Court will not hear mining magnate Clive Palmer’s challenge to a court’s finding that lawsuits he brought challenging two criminal cases against him over a takeover bid and alleged payments to his political party were an abuse of process and should be stayed.