Media

The judge overseeing Bruce Lehrmann’s failed defamation case against Network Ten has slammed as misleading comments that his judgment vindicated the broadcaster, and questioned whether the remarks disentitled it to maximum defence costs.

Bruce Lehrmann has been given extra time to file any appeal of a ruling he raped colleague Brittany Higgins but in the meantime the former political staffer must hand over information on who funded his defamation case against Network Ten, which is likely to see him on the hook for millions of dollars in costs.

Sydney barrister Gina Edwards has been awarded $150,000 in damages in her defamation case over Channel Nine’s coverage of her battle for custody of famed social media pooch Oscar the cavoodle, with a judge finding she relied on a bad legal advice from a fellow barrister and genuinely believed she was Oscar’s co-owner.

A judge has ruled that media monitor Isentia did not infringe the copyright of Sky News, despite the “wholesale copying” of content for its government clients, because its actions were done for the “services of the Commonwealth or State”.

Bruce Lehrmann has agreed to pay author Peter FitzSimons’ costs of complying with a subpoena in the former Liberal staffer’s failed defamation case against Network Ten and FitzSimons’ wife Lisa Wilkinson.

Network Ten has argued accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann should pay indemnity costs from the date he launched his unsuccessful defamation case, saying he brought it on a “deliberately wicked and calculated basis”.

Attacks at trial on the credibility of Bruce Lehrmann hit their target, but it’s still his case to lose on Monday morning, when judgment is delivered on his defamation claims against Ten. Throughout the case the network has borne the burden of proving Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation was true, and it is the very seriousness of that allegation that made the task harder.

Luxottica has run afoul of Australian spam laws, paying a penalty of $1.5 million for sending marketing emails without an unsubscribe option. 

A master chronology of the events on the night Bruce Lerhmann allegedly raped former policital staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House reveals federal police had concerns that Higgins may have been drugged.

Cross-border technology expert Lisa Fitzgerald has joined Norton Rose Fulbright from Lander & Rogers, bringing her expertise in media, telecommunications, privacy and intellectual property to the firm.