When it comes to bet-the-company matters that keep corporate counsel awake at night, intellectual property disputes often rank at the top of the list. And these eight law firms are the ones companies turned to the most last year when facing a courtroom battle over their IP.
Slater and Gordon has filed a shareholder class action against Brambles over its allegedly misleading and overly rosy 2017 financial forecasts, beating rival Maurice Blackburn to the punch almost 10 months after it announced it was investigating a shareholder class action against the logistics company.
Ophthalmic diagnostic device manufacture ObjectiVision can’t file amended claims for damages following a trial in a copyright and contract case against the University of Sydney, with a judge saying the school would be “severely prejudiced” if the new claims were allowed.
The publisher of The Daily Telegraph has won its bid to bring a defence of justification against claims by actor Geoffrey Rush that the newspaper defamed him in articles alleging the actor behaved “inappropriately” during a production of King Lear at the Sydney Theatre Company.
Cargill has won court approval to amend its pleading against Viterra to include details of a law firm meeting in which Viterra executives allegedly made assurances that there were no quality issues with its malt, more than two months into the trial over the $420 million sale of Viterra’s Joe White Maltings business to Cargill in 2013.
A barrister for a class action against Radio Rentals has told the Federal Court the company’s “strange” lease contracts may have been worded solely to avoid its obligations under the Uniform Consumer Credit Code.
A judge has given the green light to a settlement of seven class actions against ratings agency S&P Global over toxic financial products, saying despite an “extraordinarily large” litigation funding fee the deal was a “significant vindication” of group member claims.
Mining giant BHP Billiton has reached a $50 million deal to settle the US class action over the 2015 dam failure at the Samarco mine in Brazil.
Crown Resorts is taking the NSW government to court over development at central Barangaroo that threatens to block its views of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
Iluka Resources has shot back at claims in a shareholder class action that it made misleading statements about projected sales volumes, saying the statements were accompanied by extensive disclaimers about its ability to predict future sales.