Judges

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has lost its appeal of a ruling that revoked its 22-year-old 'community bank' trade mark, with the Full Federal Court agreeing that the phrase has an ordinary signification and cannot be trade marked for the bank's services.

A fight is brewing over allegedly deficient discovery provided by pop star Katy Perry in her trade mark dispute with Sydney fashion designer Katie Perry, with a judge hearing that text messages from the singer's phone that may be relevant to the case have not been handed over.  

Fortnite developer Epic Games has filed a lawsuit against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct and misuse of market power, after launching a similar claim against Apple in November.

In another victory for ASIC in a case stemming from the banking royal commission, a judge has ruled that TAL Life Limited breached the Insurance Contracts Act after denying coverage to a cancer patient and threatening to recover $24,000 it had already paid to her.

The High Court has ruled that the tax office was not obliged to refund money for tax surpluses mistakenly issued under the GST Act, in a long-running legal dispute between the Commissioner of Taxation and foreign currency exchange Travelex.

Judges have power to manage competing class actions by picking a winner in a so-called beauty parade, the High Court has ruled, but there is no one size fits all approach to the decision, and the law firm that files first is not guaranteed the coveted prize.

The lead plaintiffs in two class actions against 7-Eleven have appealed a decision rejecting the very first Federal Court application for oral discovery, which would have seen four former employees bound by confidentiality agreements give evidence.

A judge has found a group of insurers defending a $309 million lawsuit over an Australia Pacific LNG project in Central Queensland cannot be represented by two law firms, saying it would not be in the interests of justice.

The first battle in the legal tug of war between Qantas and Virgin over a defecting senior executive will centre on whose lawsuit should be the one to ventilate the dispute, a court heard Tuesday.

Generic pharmaceutical company Sandoz has hit back in an intellectual property lawsuit by Merck Sharp & Dohme, filing a cross-claim that seeks to undo an extension of time granted to the US drug manufacturer for a patent relating to its multibillion dollar Januvia and Janumet diabetes drugs.