Inside Track: Competition & Consumer Law - In the media, and cases

• Published date: 18 September 2021
• Subject Matter: Anti-trust/Competition Law, Consumer Protection, Trade Regulation & Practices, Consumer Law, Consumer Trading & Unfair Trading
• Law Firm: Holding Redlich

In the media

Stone & Wood revives Byron Bay labeling controversy
Stone & Wood's use of a third-party brewery to facilitate its entry into the contemporary beer market has revived the contentious issue of transparency in labeling for beers made under contract. Alcohol labeling in Australia is governed by a raft of unrelated but interlocking regulatory requirements designed to protect consumers from a food safety perspective and false and misleading claims (09 September 2021). More...

Bathroomware brand Nero admits to likely resale price maintenance
Bathroomware brand, Nero Bathrooms International Pty Ltd, trading as Nero Tapware, has admitted it was likely to have engaged in resale price maintenance by withholding supply of its products from a small independent building supplies retailer when that retailer failed to raise its advertised prices (08 September 2021). More...

Allianz and AWP to pay $1.5m penalty over misleading sale of travel insurance
Insurance giant Allianz and its related arm AWP Australia (AWP) have been hit with a $1.5 million penalty by the Federal Court following misleading sales of travel insurance policies through Expedia websites, by failing to correctly state how premiums were calculated and allowing insurance to be sold to ineligible customers (07 September 2021). More...

ASIC to go hard on super funds that overpromise
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has fixed a regulatory anomaly which was unjustifiably hindering full AFSL-holders in delivering tax-exempt advice. Speaking at the AIST Superannuation Investment Conference, Jane Eccleston, ASIC senior executive leader for superannuation, said the regulator would act if it saw false, misleading or deceptive conduct in these disclosures (02 September 2021). More...

Alex Gow Funerals pays penalty for allegedly misleading consumers on funeral pricing
Funeral services provider Alex Gow Proprietary Limited (Alex Gow Funerals) has paid a penalty of $13,320 after the ACCC issued it with an infringement notice for allegedly making a false and misleading representation about the price of its funeral services and the fees that consumers are required to pay (02 September 2021). More...

Cases

Allergan Australia Pty Ltd v Self Care IP Holdings Pty Ltd [2021] FCAFC 163
TRADE MARKS - infringement claim pursuant to s 120 of the Trade Marks Act 1995 (Cth) - whether primary judge erred in concluding that the respondents did not infringe the appellant's BOTOX mark by using PROTOX as a trade mark - whether primary judge erred in concluding that PROTOX was not deceptively similar to BOTOX - held that PROTOX is deceptively similar to BOTOX mark - infringement established
TRADE MARKS - infringement claim pursuant to s 120 of the Act - whether the respondents used the composite phrase "instant Botox' alternative" as a trade mark - whether "instant BOTOX' alternative" deceptively similar to appellant's BOTOX marks - phrase was used as a trade mark - phrase was deceptively similar to BOTOX mark - whether comparative advertising "defence" under s 122(1)(d) of the Act available and established - meaning of "comparative advertising - whether "defences" under s 122(1)(b) and (c) and (e) of the Act available and established - discussion of the nature of s 122 "defences" - defences not...