Regulators

A judge has approved a $450 million penalty put forward by Crown Resorts and AUSTRAC despite reservations about evidence going to the casino operator’s financial position.

The judge asked to approve a proposed $450 million penalty in AUSTRAC’s case against Crown Resorts has questioned whether the practice of regulators settling enforcement action ahead of trial gave rise to a “moral hazard” problem.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has set its sights on data brokers such as Equifax and Corelogic amid concerns about harms to consumers from their information collecting practices.

Monster Energy has lost a trade mark tiff with American broadcaster A&E Television, with IP Australia giving the media company the all-clear to register a mark for its ‘Monster Motor Challenge’ TV series. 

Retail broker Openmarkets has paid the largest ever penalty handed down by ASIC’s markets disciplinary panel, with the regulator also banning its former trading head for three years.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has brought proceedings against carpark operator Secure Parking, claiming its duped customers in major cities with its misleading car reservation service.

Select AFSL, its related entities and its director have been slapped with $13.6 million in penalties after a judge found that the life insurer used unconscionable phone sales tactics to “wear down” often vulnerable consumers, including migrants and Indigenous communities.

The government of Peru has appealed a ruling that rejected its bid to trade mark the alcoholic spirit pisco, after an IP Australia delegate found Aussie consumers think of more than Peruvian pisco when they see the name.

A court has imposed a $40 million penalty on Insurance Australia Limited in a case by the corporate regulator alleging NRMA customers were not paid $60 million in promised loyalty discounts.

A self-represented litigant locked in a legal battle with the ATO and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has won an appeal of a decision that set aside nine subpoenas she issued, including one to the Assistant Director of the CDPP, with the appeals court finding that the relevance of the evidence sought was enough to satisfy the application.