The competition regulator has asked the High Court to correct the Full Court’s alleged error in overturning a finding that builder J Hutchinson and the union for construction workers violated competition laws by agreeing to boycott an independent subcontractor at a Brisbane building site.
Car repair franchise Ultra Tune is challenging a record $1.5 million fine for contempt for failing to comply with a court-ordered compliance program in proceedings brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
British bank HSBC has been stung with $33,000 in penalties for alleged violations of rules designed to increase transparency and competition in the banking sector.
The owner of realestate.com.au has dropped its plan to acquire a national forms platform used by real estate agents, after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission commenced a review of the deal off its own bat and raised competition concerns.
Aussie Skips is fighting a court’s ruling that imposed a $3.5 million penalty against the waste company and sentenced its boss to an 18-month intensive corrections order, in a criminal cartel case that also implicated Bingo Industries.
Epic Games’ case alleging Google ran its Play Store anti-competitively is “significantly more ambitious” than the Fortnite game maker’s claims against Apple, according to the search giant, which says its restraints are “more flexible and less draconian” than the iPhone maker’s.
Hitting back at claims that its App Store stifles competition, Apple has told a trial that app developers have myriad ways of maximising profits without paying it a commission, noting Epic Games made US$3.8 billion from in-game currency V-Bucks in 2021.
Westpac subsidiary BT Funds Management and Tal Life Insurance have foreshadowed applications to strike out the pleadings of a class action alleging superannuation customers were overcharged for insurance coverage.
A judge has dismissed the corporate regulator’s first-ever case over unfair insurance contracts terms, finding it was not unfair for an insurer to require customers to notify it if anything changed about their home or its contents.
Google has criticised two competition class actions which piggyback on claims brought by Fornite developer Epic Games as “opportunistic”, but counsel for the class actions told a court the suits on behalf of more than 15 million group members were in the public interest.