Law Firms

Aldi has slammed what it says is a novel copyright infringement case alleging the German grocery chain copied the “vibe” of a rival’s snack packaging. 

The administrators for budget airline Bonza have found it likely traded while insolvent in the lead-up to its voluntary administration, suggesting the airline’s directors may have breached their duties under the Corporations Act. 

Previously noting the rate was “well outside the median range”, a judge has made an order granting the second highest contingency fee to a law firm running a shareholder class action against vehicle company FleetPartners Group, saying he was satisfied the group costs order was appropriate and necessary.

Start-up Element Zero claims Fortescue did not disclose material information to the court when it obtained search orders in its case alleging “industrial scale misuse” of the mining company’s confidential information.

In a loss for the Australian Taxation Office, the Full Federal Court has found that payments made by Asahi Breweries-owned Schweppes to PepsiCo under agreements to sell brands such as Pepsi and Mountain Dew in Australia were not subject to a royalty withholding tax. 

A senior barrister who was ordered to provide itemised bills to explain four invoices totalling $800,000 has avoided a contempt of court finding, with a judge saying he was not satisfied the silk failed to comply with the orders and that if the extent of the itemisation were inadequate this was not the result of “disobedience”.

Five federal officers have dropped their defamation case against former ACT prosecutor Shane Drumgold over his complaint concerning their investigation into Brittany Higgins’ sexual assault claims against Bruce Lehrmann.

Melbourne mattress and bedding start-up Sleeping Duck is seeking preliminary discovery of communications between former employees and rival company Eva Sleep, including correspondence allegedly containing financial information and trade secrets. 

The liquidators of collapsed media company Big Un are pushing for a trial date in their two-year-old case against financier First Class Capital alleging a three million share purchase was part of a fraudulent design to inflate the collapsed company’s share price.

Epic Games has taken aim at Google for the “untruthful evidence” of its witnesses in the game maker’s competition case against the tech giant, as well as its failure to call senior executives to the stand to defend itself.