Food and Beverage

The landlord of a Western Sydney commercial property has been awarded $328,000 in lost rent and outgoings after its former tenant, baked goods producer Allied Pinnacle, failed to repaint the external walls at the site.

DC Comics is taking another swing at a Sydney man's bid to register 'kryptonite diet' as a trade mark, arguing he acted "willfully blind" or in bad faith in registering the mark given its sizable reputation in the fictional substance from the Superman franchise.

McDonald’s knew that employees across its stores were not being given continuous 10-minute rest breaks and that its time-keeping systems were deficient, a judge heard on the first day of trial in an underpayments class action that could include 370,000 workers.

A class action against United Petroleum by franchisees alleging they were forced to run loss-making Pie Face stores has found two funders to bankroll the case, one of which is based in Hong Kong.

A unit of spirits maker Pernod Ricard has lost its opposition to rival Sazerac's bid to register 'Stagg' as a trade mark for a whiskey brand, with an IP Australia delegate finding the mark was not deceptively similar to Pernod Ricard's 'Royal Stag' mark. 

A landlord has won its bid to have lost rent and outgoings assessed as part of damages it is owed after a judge found baked goods producer Allied Pinnacle was required to repaint the outside when its commercial lease at a Western Sydney property ended.

Two former directors of food supplier PMFresh can't withdraw admissions in a case alleging they used company funds for personal benefit, despite a related police investigation.

Coles, Woolworths, McDonald's and Hungry Jack's have denied underpaying employees in class actions over Sunday pay entitlements in South Australia, saying that if workers were underpaid, they can set off any amounts owed against mistaken overpayments.

A Woolworths executive facing cross-examination in the ACCC's case over alleged illusory discounts has denied that price increases were anything other than a reaction to inflation and a “tsunami” of supplier cost increase requests. 

Hearing the ACCC's opening remarks in its case against Woolworths over 'illusory' discounts, a judge has questioned if consumers would have descended into the level of analysis suggested by the regulator when shopping.