A company that owns two innovation patents covering the ubiquitous produce containers in Australian grocery stores has successfully defended the validity of the inventions against claims they were neither inventive nor new.
Ultra Tune was “cavalier and careless” in its attitude towards its franchisees, the ACCC told the Federal Court Tuesday at the start of a four-day hearing in a case alleging the national car repair business failed to comply with the Franchising Code and breached the Australian Consumer Law.
A judge on Tuesday consolidated two shareholder class actions against life sciences company Sirtex Medical and appointed Maurice Blackburn as lead lawyers for the joint proceedings.
Quinn Emanuel has been forced to bow out as class action counsel in a case against Bank of Queensland after litigation funder Vannin Capital called for the law firm’s $4 million fee to be challenged.
Cargill has won a discovery dispute in a case alleging fraudulent concealment by Viterra in its $420 million sale of malt producer Joe White Maltings to Cargill Australia in 2013, with a judge finding documents attached to privileged emails or emails that are part of a privileged chain are protected by legal professional privilege.
The judge presiding over jostling shareholder class actions against logistics software company GetSwift suggested on Tuesday a “bill of peace” to join the actions, but lawyers leading the competing cases warned of the “economic hazard” of a merger.
A lawyer for the University of Sydney has attacked ObjectiVision for failing to produce any commercial benefits from the glaucoma detection method at the centre of a patent infringement dispute, despite holding exclusive rights to the technology for 11 years.
A judge has signed off on a $19.25 million settlement in a shareholder class action brought against directors of defunct laser technology company Arasor International Ltd and partners in auditing firm Grant Thornton South Australia, but cut the legal fees of Squire Patton Boggs and Piper Alderman by $250,000.
Consumer goods maker Pental Ltd will pay $700,000 in penalties after admitting it misled customers about its ‘flushable’ White King toilet and bathroom cleaner wipes.
The first stage of the Australian trial alleging Volkswagen installed dual-mode software in diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests will wrap up Monday, when class action lawyers deliver a final rebuttal and closing arguments.