The parties in a ‘sham’ contracting class action brought on behalf of telecommunications workers have both lost bids to recover interlocutory costs, with a judge noting that costs orders against funded litigants should be the exception rather than the rule in Fair Work litigation.
Hytera Communications argued it should be granted a late-stage bid to postpone its copyright trial with Motorola Solutions, in what a judge called “the most complicated adjournment application” he’d ever heard.
Virgin Australia bondholders contesting the sale of the airline to private equity firm Bain Capital have blasted the airline’s administrators at Deloitte for failing to inform the court when applying for confidentiality orders that the bondholders had sought information on the terms of the deal.
The Opal Tower owners’ corporation has opted out of a class action seeking compensation on behalf of hundreds of apartment owners in the scandal-plagued building.
The workplace umpire has jurisdiction to hear a case against Qantas and its budget subsidiary Jetstar brought by the union for licenced aircraft maintenance engineers stood down during the coronavirus pandemic, a judge has ruled in a blow to the airline.
A judge overseeing mining magnate Clive Palmer’s challenge to border closures by Western Australia and Queensland has delayed a hearing in the case for two weeks as WA’s expert responds to an urgent call for help from Victoria, which has seen a record surge in coronavirus cases.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not oppose the acquisition of global pharmaceutical giant Bayer’s animal health business by competitor Elanco, after the company agreed to divest certain brands to allay competition concerns.
Vehicle Management Systems will take another crack at opposing a patent application by rival SARB Management Group for an integrated magnetic parking overstay detector.
It is entirely possible that the first effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is developed in Australia, with an Australian firm securing patent rights to the vaccine. If that occurs, it is important to remember that a patent is not an impenetrable fortress. Patent laws already contain mechanisms to enable “special access” to patented pharmaceuticals and other technologies, including (perhaps especially) in times like this, say James Neil and Richard Hoad of Clayton Utz.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has refused to provide sought-after documents to the lead applicants of a joint class action against it until AUSTRAC grants permission, citing concerns over possible criminal breaches if it hands over the material without the agency’s approval.
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