The High Court has unanimously upheld the validity of the Australian Public Service code of conduct, after a former public servant mounted a freedom of speech challenge after being sacked for anonymously tweeting thousands of critical comments about government immigration policy and members of parliament.
An appeal by gaming giant Aristocrat Technologies of an IP Australia ruling revoking four of its patents will head to trial in September ahead of outcomes in two high stakes cases over the patentability of computer software.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which is fighting the legality of a police raid on its Sydney headquarters, has urged the Federal Court to order the Australian Federal Police to hand over a document it produced as rationale for obtaining a search warrant.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has appealed a Federal Court judgment tossing its consumer case against Kimberly-Clark over “flushable” wipes.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is planning to sue ANZ over $35 million in allegedly illegal customer fees, which were also at the centre of two class actions settlements reached last year under which customers are expected to walk away with no more than $100 apiece.
A judge has slapped a $10 million fine on online supplement company Peptide Clinics for advertising prescription-only drugs in breach of the Therapeutic Goods Act.
NSW Ports Operations has denied claims that an agreement for the privatisation of its subsidiaries Port Botany and Port Kembla stymied competition, describing the allegations made by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as “slight or hypothetical”.
Ansell has settled a dispute with a Perth cosmetic clinic over its proposed registration of the trade mark ‘SKYN Love The Skyn You’re In’, after the Australian rubber latex manufacturer argued it was substantially identical to four of its condom trade marks.
Indonesian national airline Garuda faces a possible contempt motion by the competition regulator for failing to pay a $19 million court-issued fine after it was found guilty of air cargo price-fixing, a failure a judge called “almost unthinkable”.
Almost 7,000 disabled workers have been repaid $109 million in wages as part of a class action settlement distribution that has been called a “fitting end to an historic fight”.