A court has barred US drug company Merck Sharp & Dohme from denying that an agreement made with German pharmaceutical company Merck KGaA was governed by German law, settling a key question before a trade mark case between the two drug giants goes to trial.
Boutique class actions law firm Phi Finney McDonald has won its bid to reserve costs incurred before its case was permanently stayed in the AMP shareholder class action beauty contest, after the firm racked up at least 1,345 hours in “sunk costs”.
The Copyright Tribunal erred by including rights in a reissued Foxtel licence agreement that fell outside the authority of the licence grant holder, the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia, the Full Federal Court has found.
In its opening submissions in a trade mark case brought by Botox maker Allergan, Australian cosmetics brand Self Care compared its used of the word Botox to describe its alternative cosmetic products to the iPhone secondary accessories market, saying its use did not imply an affiliation with the injectable wrinkle treatment’s maker.
Maurice Blackburn’s shareholder class action against AMP — the only action not backed by a litigation funder — has been picked as the winner in a fierce battle of law firms vying to lead a high stakes case over the wealth manager’s fees for no service scandal.
A ruling by a judge deciding a four-way contest to run a shareholder class action against AMP is expected this week, a judgment significant not just because it is the first time a court in Australia has been asked to choose among so many competing representative cases.
Telecom giant Optus has been hit with a $25,000 criminal fine after pleading guilty to four charges of failing to disclose political donations in its development applications.
The Chief Justice of the Federal Court wants four referees to weigh what’s expected to be voluminous expert evidence in three class actions against the Commonwealth of Australia over exposure to allegedly toxic foam used on a government military bases, saying with 60 class actions pending in the Federal Court, devoting a single judge to the case for months on end should be a “mechanism of last resort”.
An eight-day joint hearing in cases brought by Allergan alleging infringement of its Botox trade mark, which was due to commence Monday, has been unexpectedly vacated by the court, with barristers and legal teams left in the dark about the reasons.
An appeals court has overturned a ruling awarding $2 million in compensation to United Petroleum after the state government compulsorily acquired land on which the petrol retailer operated a service station and restaurant.