Retail

Litigation funder Galactic should receive a $15 million commission for its work on two franchisee class actions against convenience store giant 7-Eleven, instead of the $25 million it has asked for, a court has heard.

Peters Ice Cream has been hit with a $12 million penalty after admitting to entering an anti-competitive exclusive agreement for distribution of its single serve ice creams to service stations and convenience stores across Australia.

Calling it the “elephant in the room”, a judge overseeing a class action against Tyro over a major EFTPOS outage last year has said a dispute over who is eligible to join the case needs to be hashed out before retailers are notified of the proceedings.

Japan’s Uniden has been hit with an intellectual property lawsuit by Australia’s only CB radio manufacturer, which alleges the upcoming launch by the wireless communications giant of two new products amounts to infringement of its design patent.

A judge has come down hard on a settlement in class actions against supermarket chain Romeo’s, saying group members had been kept in the dark and the costs to be paid to the plaintiffs’ firm did not add up.

Cosmetics company MCoBeauty has reached a settlement with the maker of the popular 1000Hour Lash & Brow Dye kit in a case alleging  “deliberate and flagrant” trade mark and copyright infringement.

A toy designer that has been sued for allegedly copying the design of toy maker Jellycat’s beloved ‘Bashful Bunny’ has pushed back at a request for discovery concerning its design process, telling the court “a plush toy in the shape of a bunny is hardly a revolutionary concept”.

The funder that was bankrolling a class action alleging pharmacy giant Priceline exercised an “overly prescriptive level of control” on franchisees which limited their profitability has withdrawn its support for the proceeding.

Evidence of anxiety felt by 7-Eleven franchisees leading class actions against the convenience store giant was relevant to whether the funder could earn a $25 million commission from the proceeds of a settlement, a court has heard.

Online book retailer Booktopia has admitted it scrapped a term requiring two days’ notice of damaged or incorrect books, but rejects claims by the ACCC that the policy resulted in a systematic refusal to refund customers.