Business Law Library & Tracker
Selected Business Law Cases
Short explainers for court decisions that change how Australian businesses handle contracts, staff, customers, IP and company duties.
Sources last reviewed 9 Nov 2026
Main law guides
297
Acts, regulations and codes worth reading first
Topics
22
Plain-English clusters
Published case explainers
519
Selected cases with a business lesson
Tracked updates
137
New, amended & reviewed
Plain-English explainers, not legal advice. Use the linked official source for section-level detail, and get advice for your situation.
Get legal helpMokhtari v Piacentini & Son Pty Ltd (No 3)
Business owners should read this case as a reminder that employment litigation often becomes a contest about documents before it becomes a contest about witnesses....
Mokhtari v Piacentini & Son Pty Ltd (No 4)
Read this as a procedural expert-evidence case, not a ruling on who was right in the underlying employment dispute. The Court did not decide liability, causation or...
Nafar v BT Funds Management Limited
The main takeaway is that policy-specific certification requirements are not just paperwork. They can be threshold conditions to any entitlement. In Nafar, the...
Nalco v Cytec patent amendments
Patent value depends on the fit between the invention, the specification, the claims and any amendment strategy. R&D businesses should involve patent advisers early...
Nanshan (Aust) Golf Resort Pty Ltd v Earth Fill Group Pty Ltd (No 2)
Read this case carefully as a default judgment decision, not as a final trial ruling on disputed facts. The Court did not decide after cross-examination that the...
Narayan, in the matter of Elexsys Energy
Trade credit and retention-of-title clauses need PPSR discipline. If goods, equipment or inventory are supplied on credit, the paperwork and registrations should...
New Aim v Leung
Supplier lists, buyer know-how and marketplace sourcing data can be protected, but only if the business treats them like valuable confidential information before a...
North v Cool Dynamics Refrigeration Pty Ltd
The practical lesson is to treat a trade mark opposition as an active dispute with deadlines, evidence requirements and communication risks, not as a simple filing...
NTMA Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd v Beardmore
If your pharmacy business is part of a wider group, do not assume each entity will be treated in isolation during a compliance investigation. This decision shows...
Offshore Employers v CFMEU
Enterprise-agreement disputes need careful scoping. If a dispute is referred to the Fair Work Commission about one employee's entitlement, later attempts to treat...
Ogbonna v Link Workforce Pty Ltd (No 2)
Business owners should read this as a procedure and risk-management case, not a ruling that Link Workforce did or did not breach workplace law. The Court did not...
Olsen, in the matter of Babyskin Laser & Cosmetic Clinic
Voluntary administration is not just a pause button. For a small company, the second creditors' meeting can decide whether the business is sold, rescued through a...
On Clouds v Cyclonic
Brand clearance is not just a database exact-match search. A short added ending can still be too close if customers are likely to remember the dominant part of the...
Origin Net Pty Ltd v Origin Energy Limited
If your business is in Federal Court proceedings, do not assume you can fix a weak discovery strategy later by calling it a review. This case draws a sharp line...
Orikan v Vehicle Monitoring Systems
A patent is only as strong as the specification behind it. Product businesses should make sure the patent teaches the real implementation, records the best known...
Our Jim & Felicja Superfund v Lindenfels
Shareholder oppression claims are not a shortcut around a hard bargain. If a shareholder agreement, agency agreement or offtake agreement gives someone a commercial...
Palmer v Australian Securities and Investments Commission (No 3)
If your business, director or manager is facing both ASIC action and criminal exposure, do not assume a separate civil proceeding is the best way to challenge the...
Pandey v Dr Tiffany Tam Pty Ltd
If your business is in a post-judgment costs dispute, start by identifying exactly where you are in the Federal Court process. Ask whether the step you want to...
ParcelTools Pty Ltd v Method Industries Pty Ltd
Read this case as a warning about mixed signals in commercial structuring. The Court did not finally decide that there was a binding joint venture, that ParcelTools...
Pett v National Disability Insurance Agency (No 2)
Business owners should read this case as a document-handling and litigation strategy decision. The Court protected the spreadsheets because of a particular...
Peymani v Posh N Polished
Small employers should treat commission disputes, proposed role changes and termination communications as legally sensitive from the first email. A messy breakup...
PlayWest Pty Ltd v Apple Inc
If one platform controls a critical route to your customers, treat that dependency as a legal and operational risk before a dispute occurs. Keep current copies of...
PPK Mining Equipment Pty Ltd v G.E.T. Engineering Pty Ltd
If your business is in Federal Court proceedings, do not build your litigation strategy on the assumption that the other side must notify you before seeking leave...
PSC AMGI WSC Pty Ltd v J&P Capital Insurance Pty Ltd (No 2)
The strongest lesson from this case is settlement discipline. If your business signs a deed to end a dispute, make sure the deed clearly states each step, the...
Qi, in the matter of S&Q Group Pty Ltd (No 2)
Business owners should read this case as a reminder that court procedure is not secondary to the real commercial dispute. If your company is sued or faces a...
Qoria scheme of arrangement
Schemes of arrangement depend on disclosure, ASIC process and shareholder meeting mechanics. If a company is pursuing a merger or acquisition by scheme, the booklet...
Quach v Registrar of Trade Marks (No 2)
If your business loses a trade mark opposition before the Registrar, check three things straight away: the deadline, the correct appellant, and the actual grounds...
Quarter Turn Pty Ltd v Reinteractive Pty Ltd (No 5)
If your business may need to sue over a failed project, identify every head of loss early and keep your evidence aligned with it. This case shows that it is not...
Quarter Turn Pty Ltd v Reinteractive Pty Ltd (No 6)
Business owners should read this as a case about discipline in running a claim, not as a ruling on whether the contract claim itself succeeds. The Court accepted...
Ramoo v Grow Trade Finance
Director guarantees and trade finance variations need careful signing mechanics. If a director signs both for the company and personally, later increases to a...
Reabel (in substitution for Henry) v Sandlewood Aboriginal Projects Limited
Businesses should read this case as a reminder that litigation run on behalf of a company is a governance process as much as a legal one. If court leave was needed...
Reece Australia Pty Ltd v Alamdo Holdings Pty Ltd
A deadline or termination right in a lease is not a free option. A party may lose the right to rely on it when its own failure helps cause the condition to fail....
Reiche v Neometals
Whistleblower complaints should be handled with a clean, documented reason trail. Even when a company ultimately defeats a claim, termination or redundancy after...
Reiche v Neometals Ltd (No 4)
The practical message is that costs recovery can continue during an appeal unless the court orders otherwise, but the court may pause the step that most directly...
Rix Electrical Contracting v Aitchison
Liquidation claims against directors can turn into settlement enforcement very quickly. If a director settles claims for insolvent trading, director-related...
Rizkalla v CDC Geelong
Fair Work general protections disputes need disciplined records and disciplined pleadings. Employers should be able to separate safety complaints, union activity,...