Regulators

A judge has rejected the Australian Taxation Office's claim that legal professional privilege does not apply to any communications between PricewaterhouseCoopers and its client, meat processor JBS, but has found that many of the reviewed documents do not satisfy the test of privilege.

Peters Ice Cream has been hit with a $12 million penalty after admitting to entering an anti-competitive exclusive agreement for distribution of its single serve ice creams to service stations and convenience stores across Australia.

A notice issued to Pepsico demanding royalty withholding tax over bottling payments made by Schweppes correctly notified the soft drink giant of its tax liability, the Australian Taxation Office has said.

Wealth manager MLC Limited has admitted to violating the Corporations Act by failing to send overdue notices to policyholders over a 15-year period, but will defend the bulk of ASIC's claims in proceedings accusing it of causing $17.5 million in harm to over a quarter of a million consumers.

SingTel has been blocked from making $190,000 in tax deductions after the Australian Taxation Office won its Federal Court case against the Singaporean teleco over transfer pricing benefits related to the $14.2 billion acquisition of Optus.

The ACCC has refused to authorise a patent settlement and license agreement between Bristol-Myers Squibb unit Celgene and two generic drug makers who sued to invalidate the patents for its blockbuster cancer drug Revlimid, saying it could distort competition between generic drug makers.

Journalist Tegan George will add sex discrimination claims against Network Ten to her lawsuit that alleges harassment and bullying by political journalist Peter van Onselen.

Tech companies will be held responsible for harmful disinformation and misinformation on their platforms under new laws that will be introduced in the second half of the year.

ASIC has asked a Federal Court registrar who previously worked at Herbert Smith Freehills to step down from overseeing remaining costs disputes in its failed case against former Tennis Australia president Steven Healy, who is represented by the Big Six firm.

The Full Court has upheld two judgments that shortened patent term extensions granted to Merck Sharpe & Dohme and Ono Pharmaceuticals, finding the extension regime cannot be construed as achieving a "commercial outcome for a patentee".