Three Sydney restaurateurs have won a lengthy defamation battle against The Sydney Morning Herald over a scathing review of their restaurant published by the newspaper. On 30 September 2003, the Sydney Morning Herald published a review of the Coco Roco restaurant in King Street Wharf, in Sydney, written by the newspaper’s chief restaurant reviewer, Matthew Evans. Mr. Evans’ review, headlined “Matthew Evans fails Coco Roco”, referred to “unpalatable” food and claimed the restaurant... ...Read more »

New South Wales-based company Australia Poultry and Food Wholesalers has been fined A$236,000 plus legal costs for supplying pre-cooked chicken that was found to contain Listeria monocytogenes. The chicken was used in wraps that were supplied for inflight meals on the Virgin Blue airline. Listeria monocytogenes is dangerous for pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. Downing Centre Local Court, in Sydney, found that between December 2008 and June 2009, a food-borne... ...Read more »

According to a report from Australian food law specialists FoodLegal, Australian beverage and food companies will need to watch closely what emerges from a recent American lawsuit. Foodlegal has reported that parents of a 13-year-old girl from Maryland, USA, have filed a lawsuit against Nestle USA, manufacturer of ‘Deer Park’ and ‘Poland Spring’ bottled waters with added fluoride, and also against Gerber Products Company, which manufactures baby food and infant formula products containing... ...Read more »

The High Court of Australia has ordered Lion Nathan National Foods to scrap the word ‘Barefoot’ on its Barefoot Radler beer range, after losing a trademark case against US wine giant E. & J. Gallo Winery. Gallo is the current registered owner of the registered trade mark ‘Barefoot’ and took the brewer to the Federal Court more than two years ago, claiming Lion Nathan’s Barefoot Radler brand infringed Gallo Winery’s ‘barefoot’ trademark, used to... ...Read more »

Mars, Incorporated has announced that it has filed a lawsuit against cocoa flavanol extract supplier Naturex, makers of the Cocoactiv product, and against cocoa flavanol supplement manufacturers Nutraceuticals (makers of the Solaray products) and Life Extension Foundation (makers of the Cocoa Gold products) for infringement of nine US patents owned by Mars. The suit was filed in the US District Court in Alexandria, VA and requests that an injunction be granted to stop infringing sales and the promotion... ...Read more »

PepsiCo is facing a possible payout of US$1.26 billion (A$1.4b) after not responding to a lawsuit earlier this year. Two men, who claim PepsiCo took their idea for bottled water, won the judgment after PepsiCo failed to turn up to court. PepsiCo said they were unaware of the lawsuit until after the default ruling had been announced due to a secretary failing to act on the court documents. As a result they are hopeful of an opportunity to fight the ruling, an opportunity they are likely – though... ...Read more »

Cadbury is facing a lawsuit from one of their shareholders in the wake of their dismissive approach to the informal offer from Kraft. Steward International Enhanced Index Fund, a US mutual fund holding 6,720 Cadbury shares, contends that the Cadbury Board has not acted in the best interests of shareholders by failing to “properly consider” the A$19.6b offer. “Cadbury shareholders stand to lose out massively if the Cadbury board continues to refuse to negotiate a transaction with... ...Read more »

The Dannon Company, American-based subsidiary of French dairy group Danone, has announced the US$35 million (A$40.6m) settlement of a class action lawsuit regarding alleged misleading advertising for its Activia and DanActive products. Under the settlement, Dannon will make certain changes and enhancements to the labeling and marketing of Activia and DanActive to increase the visibility of the scientific names of the unique strains of probiotics that are in each of these products. Dannon also agreed... ...Read more »

Nestle has insisted that it will “vigorously” resist claims from Weight Watchers International that the Swiss food giant has infringed trademark rights.Weight Watchers filed a lawsuit in the US yesterday (17 September), alleging that Nestle illegally used its name and ‘points’ system to promote its Skinny Cow low-fat ice cream and Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine frozen meals. The US-based weight management company said that it is seeking a restitution of “improper”... ...Read more »

PepsiCo announced overnight that it would sue Pepsi Bottling Group (PBG) and some of its directors. The news comes in the wake of PBG, Pepsi’s largest bottler, declining a takeover proposal from PepsiCo. The suit alleges that the defendants intentionally failed to provide notice of a recent PBG Board meeting to the PBG directors affiliated with PepsiCo. At that meeting, the directors in attendance claim to have adopted a “poison pill”, implemented certain new executive compensation... ...Read more »