Lawyers welcomed the government’s “overdue” announcement of a so-called patent box that will slash the tax rate on income derived from patented drug and biotech inventions developed in Australia, but called on the government to apply the regime to other sectors.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has dropped a consumer case accusing NIB Health Funds of failing to alert customers to coverage changes in their policies, less than a month before trial was set to kick off in the long-running case.
A Victoria Supreme Court judge has rejected a post-trial bid to keep details of the 2019 sale of Cargill’s malt business under wraps in a long-running case over Viterra’s $420 million sale of its Joe White business, finding the move would be contrary to the principles of open justice where no harm from disclosure had been demonstrated.
A judge has criticised agricultural giant Monsanto for its “highly unsatisfactory” conduct in ignoring court orders in a class action over its allegedly cancer-causing Roundup pesticides.
BlueScope Steel has raised concerns over the ACCC’s subpoenas to produce documents in its civil penalty proceedings against the steel company, saying it may significantly broaden the regulator’s claims about which businesses are its competitors.
A mid-trial settlement has been reached in a lawsuit brought by the liquidators of collapsed steel giant Arrium against 10 former company directors and officers for allegedly engaging in insolvent trading.
Qantas has secured a temporary injunction from a Singapore court blocking a former company executive from starting a new position at competitor Virgin Australia.
The judge overseeing the first ever bid for a group costs order in a class action that will give the plaintiff’s law firm a percentage cut of the proceeds has urged the firm to rethink characterising its own solicitor as an expert.
A judge has urged parties in a class action against Westpac over superannuation fees to hold an in-person mediation, saying that success rates have “plummeted” during the COVID-19 pandemic as more settlement talks are held virtually.
Westpac will recoup the majority of proceeds from the $29.6 million sale of collapsed fintech Sargon Group, with a judge calling the company’s liquidators “anxious sellers” who sold at speed and well below market value.