The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has brought legal action against debt collector Panthera Finance for alleged harassment, six months after the watchdog secured a $750,000 fine against Australia’s largest debt collector.
Mineral sands producer Iluka Resources is threatening a dismissal bid in a shareholder class action it has spent $2 million fighting over the past year, amid concerns proposed security could be inadequate and the applicant has still to finalise an agreement with a litigation funder.
Lawyers for Queensland businessman Clive Palmer have apologised to the court for repeated delays in the Twisted Sister music copyright case, blaming the unavailability of experts and the mining magnate’s involvement in the Queensland Nickel liquidation trial for his lateness.
US tobacco giant Philip Morris has failed in its challenge before IP Australia to rival British American Tobacco’s application for a trade mark to be used on its electronic cigarettes.
Rival firms Apple Inc and Swatch AG have both failed in their opposition to the other’s trade mark extension application, with a delegate for the trade marks office allowing Apple’s Tick Different and Swatch’s Think Different to proceed to registration in Australia.
Former finance guru and TV personality Sam Henderson has been banned from providing financial services for three years after an ASIC surveillance operation and shock revelations from the banking royal commission that one of his staff members impersonated a Fair Work commissioner.
The lead applicant in a class action against Radio Rentals wants access to correspondence relating to the appliance leasing company’s insurance coverage with AIG Australia, saying the documents might contain admissions relevant to its case over the company’s allegedly misleading ‘Rent, Try, $1 Buy’ program.
Construction giant Lendlease faces a second shareholder class action over market disclosures relating to its underperforming engineering division, and joining the case is one of the biggest public pension funds in the US.
Law firm HWL Ebsworth is due in court Wednesday for a hearing in its challenge to a judgment awarding an expelled partner $450,000 in damages for his “irrational and wrong” dismissal.
A catfight has broken out between construction equipment and workwear maker Caterpillar and sneaker giant Puma, with Caterpillar arguing Puma’s ‘procat’ trade mark is deceptively similar to its ‘cat’ marks.
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