Nufarm Australia has successfully challenged a herbicide patent application by Dow Agrosciences’ successor on the grounds that the invention – aimed at limiting the worldwide problem of vapor drift – is neither new nor innovative.
Fintech startup Zeller Technologies has taken millennial financial adviser Victoria Devine to court after she succeeded in quashing its application to trade mark the word ‘Zeller’.
A judge has signed off on a $4.7 million settlement in two investor class actions against collapsed sandalwood producer Quintis, two year after an earlier settlement was scuttled as group members kicked off an insurance dispute in pursuit of a better return.
The corporate regulator has reprimanded a liquidator for “serious” breaches of independence rules, and has directed the insolvency practitioner to refuse appointments until next year.
ASIC has brought court proceedings against wealth manager Mercer Financial Advice, alleging the company charged fees for services it did not provide and made false and misleading representations to thousands of customers.
In its first decision applying a landmark High Court judgment redefining the test for when a worker is employed, the Federal Court has found a sessional lecturer for a higher education institution was an employee.
Origin Energy has been hit with a record $17 million penalty for violating its obligation to protect financially vulnerable customers, including by disconnecting the services of some who were on a payment plan.
A judge has rejected a bid by the corporate regulator to access an unredacted PricewaterhouseCoopers report commissioned by coal miner TerraCom ahead of a challenge to a decision that cleared the way for the regulator to eye the document as part of an investigation.
Ultra Tune is facing contempt of court proceedings for allegedly breaching a judge’s orders and failing to meet the requirements of a court-ordered compliance program, instituted after the company copped a $2 million fine for contravening its disclosure obligations to franchisees.
ASIC has won an appeal of a judge’s decision that found Gold Coast-based payday lenders Cigno and BHF did not need a licence to issue loans to hundreds of thousands of consumers.