Litigation funder Regency Funding has sought leave to intervene as a major player in one of two challenges to the courts’ powers to issue common fund orders in class actions, but it might have a fight on its hands.
An attempt by Crown Resorts to block ex-employees from talking to class action lawyers about the casino giant’s thwarted business in China was contrary to the public interest, a judge heard Monday.
A software-implemented business method could be patentable if programmed into a computer with “some ingenuity”, IP Australia told the Full Federal Court as a landmark appeal between rival tech companies Encompass and Infotrack wrapped up Friday.
AFT Pharmaceuticals has been ordered to pull advertisements for its painkiller Maxigesic after the Federal Court ruled in favour of rival Reckitt Benckiser, finding the ads breached Australian Consumer Law.
Westpac has been ordered to pay a $3.3 million penalty for engaging in unconscionable conduct when it traded in bank bills in an attempt to influence the benchmark Bank Bill Swap Rate on four occasions, with a Federal Court judge admitting the fine was “inadequate.”
Two far-reaching appeals challenging the court’s power to order all members of an open class action to pay a litigation funder will be heard together, and soon, the Federal Court’s top judge said Thursday.
Fintech company Encompass has asked the Full Federal Court to take a more “nuanced” approach to software patentability than the one currently held by IP Australia, on the first day of a high-stakes appeal over the patentability of computer-related inventions.
Lawyers leading a class action against Quintis want the failed sandalwood oil producer to hand over evidence of any insurance policy that could cover the company and its founder for damages sought in the case.
Medical device maker AMS has told the Federal Court that claims in a class action against it over allegedly defective pelvic mesh implants did not meet the standard for a representative proceeding.
A barrister for the ABC and Fairfax has told the Federal Court that an appeal against the dismissal of their truth defence in the Chau Chak Wing defamation case will have “massive ramifications for mass media”.