Appeals

The High Court has declined to weigh in on the patentability of software, rejecting e-commerce company Rokt's bid for review of a decision striking down its marketing invention.

The director of a defunct HR company has lost his bid to avoid paying a $384,000 tax bill after hundreds of thousands of dollars were sent to the tax office via the wrong EFT number and used to repay other debts the company owed.

Investment whiz Michael Kodari has lost his appeal of a $151,000 judgment awarded in favour of his former bodyguard, who lost his job -- and his company Maserati -- after wanting to seek legal advice about a new employment contract.

An appeals court has dismissed a second bid by lawyer Alex Elliott to have the judge overseeing the Banksia class action disqualified from hearing claims that he, like his late father, was party to an alleged fraudulent scheme in running the litigation.

German drug maker Boehringer has launched a Federal Court fight against rival Zoetis after coming up short in its opposition to two Zoetis patents for pig vaccine-related inventions.

Common fund orders are again under scrutiny in a class action which was at the centre of the High Court’s decision to strike down the orders, with a NSW Supreme Court judge sending back to the appeals court the question of whether the orders can be made at settlement.

A landmark judgment by the Full Federal Court has found that a full bench of the Fair Work Commission "misconstrued" its own authority to make general protections findings about the dismissal of employees.

The High Court has rejected an appeal challenging a ruling that found a failed political candidate liable for defamatory responses made by readers of two Facebook posts he published that labelled a South Australian businessman greedy and selfish, but the court has left the door open to weigh in on the issue of secondary publication of social media comments.

A judge whose conduct towards lawyers for a father in a Family Court case was condemned by an appeals court as "cruel, insulting, humiliating and rude" has been transferred to the Brisbane registry and has been ordered to receive judicial training on appropriate behaviour in court.

A custody battle in the Family Court will be reheard after an appeals court ruled the judge overseeing the matter was "hectoring, insulting, belittling, sarcastic and rude" to lawyers representing the father in the case.