Small business sues Bonds and major retailers over the use of “hottie”; ASIC winds up 10 abandoned companies owing more than $429,000: Midday Roundup

The online lingerie business that accused Bonds of breaching its trademark has decided to go ahead with legal action and sue not only Pacific Brands but also some of Australia’s largest retailers.

Hottie Australia has filed a statement of claim in the Federal Court against Bonds’ parent company as well as the retailers that stocked its “hottie” range, according to Fairfax.

This means companies such as David Jones, Myer, Target and Best & Less could be caught up in the copyright infringement case.

Last month, an intellectual property expert told SmartCompany Easton Corp – the company behind Hottie Australia – had a “very strong case” against Bonds because it had used a registered trademark.

Hottie has so far rejected a settlement offer from Bonds.

ASIC winds up 10 abandoned companies owing more than $429,000

The corporate watchdog has appointed liquidators to 10 abandoned companies that together owe more than $429,000 in employee entitlements.

ASIC has acted to wind up the companies so employees can gain access to the Government’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee scheme to recover lost wages.

Since 2013, ASIC has used its powers to wind up 60 companies, recovering more than $2.9 million in entitlements for 213 employees.

Half of the companies being wound up by ASIC’s latest action are from New South Wales, with two coming from Victoria, and one each from South Australia, Queensland and Western Australia.

Shares down on open

Aussie shares have dipped into the red this morning following a lacklustre performance from Wall Street.

Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, said it is unlikely the local sharemarket will perform strongly today.

“A shift in investor sentiment from positive European trading to falls in the US will have local investors on the back foot today,” McCarthy said.

“A stronger US dollar further battered commodities prices, which may compound the expected weakness given the anticipatory buying in resource stocks yesterday.”

The S&P/ASX 200 benchmark was down 24.6 points, falling 0.47% to 5223.7 points at 11:17am AEST. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones closed 48.50 points lower, down 0.28% to 17,168.61 points.