Digital giants Google and Facebook will be required to pay for news content under a new mandatory code being developed by the Government to create a ‘level playing field’ in the Australian media industry, which is facing a sharp decline in advertising revenue driven by the coronavirus.
Agricultural giant Bayer can’t block an Australian herbicide maker from trade marking ‘Preceed’ for its products, with a delegate from the Trade Marks Office finding the mark was not deceptively similar to Bayer’s ‘Precept’ weed killer mark.
Fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham has taken Sydney-based skincare company VB Skinlab to court, alleging it attempted to register two trade marks to trade off the reputation of her ‘VB’ marks.
Target Australia is facing a possible class action for allegedly failing to pay staff overtime or penalties for time that they worked, two months after revealing it underpaid staff at its retail stores $9 million.
As the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic IP offices around the world, like IP Australia, are accommodating the current reality. As with courts and other governmental institutions, these offices have adopted measures such as relaxing statutory deadlines and handling matters in accordance with social distancing practices. But there are several important points to observe in terms of engaging with IP Australia during this time, writes Gilbert + Tobin’s Lisa Lennon, John Lee, Chris Williams, Mindaugas Skavronskas and Sidney Kung.
Communications software company Cellos Software has been awarded $42 million in damages from its former CEO and director Jason Huber, who secretly bought and sold millions of company shares for personal profit.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, lawyers are litigating from their lounge rooms and negotiating contracts on new technology platforms. While the profession has embraced the change, working from home exposes firms to specific IT security risks.
Defunct financial adviser Dover Financial has sued three separate law firms for allegedly negligent advice over a ‘client protection policy’ that the Federal Court found was misleading, deceptive and an “exercise in Orwellian doublespeak”.
The second of two class actions brought against Westpac over alleged anti-money laundering breaches has been denied discovery of what the bank claims are commercially sensitive documents until the law firms behind the class actions work out how their competing cases will proceed.
Grain handling group Viterra has been denied a post-hearing bid to reopen a lawsuit brought by Cargill Australia over its $420 million acquisition of Joe White, with a judge finding the application would lead to “substantial disruption and delay”.
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