The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has told a judge there’s no chance it will admit to ASIC’s allegations that it accepted conflicted remuneration through the sale of its Essential Super product, likening the matter to ASIC’s failed ‘Wagyu and shiraz’ case against Westpac.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has lost its appeal of a ruling that revoked its 22-year-old ‘community bank’ trade mark, with the Full Federal Court agreeing that the phrase has an ordinary signification and cannot be trade marked for the bank’s services.
A $150 million class action has been launched against South Australian power company SA Power Networks over the December 2019 Cudlee Creek bushfire, which destroyed over 96 homes in the state and led to one death.
The company behind the Peloton interactive exercise bike, which has amassed a cult following in the US during the coronavirus pandemic, has taken legal action against a California-based fitness company seeking the removal of its ‘spinning’ trade mark ahead of Peloton’s planned launch in Australia.
A fight is brewing over allegedly deficient discovery provided by pop star Katy Perry in her trade mark dispute with Sydney fashion designer Katie Perry, with a judge hearing that text messages from the singer’s phone that may be relevant to the case have not been handed over.
MinterEllison has appointed Sydney-based partner Virginia Briggs as acting chief executive officer after the board asked CEO Annette Kimmitt to leave over her controversial staff email about the firm’s work for Attorney-General Christian Porter.
Fortnite developer Epic Games has filed a lawsuit against Google for alleged anti-competitive conduct and misuse of market power, after launching a similar claim against Apple in November.
In another victory for ASIC in a case stemming from the banking royal commission, a judge has ruled that TAL Life Limited breached the Insurance Contracts Act after denying coverage to a cancer patient and threatening to recover $24,000 it had already paid to her.
MinterEllison boss Annette Kimmitt has reportedly been asked to leave the law firm after she sent a letter to staff sympathising with those upset by a senior partner’s representation of Attorney-General Christian Porter.
The Federal Court is set to determine whether artificial intelligence can be the inventor of a patent, after an AI pioneer filed a challenge to an IP Australia finding that allowing a machine to be considered an inventor would render the Patents Act incapable of “sensible operation”.