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Peter Dutton, the current leader of the Liberal Party and former Minister of Defence and Leader of the House in the Morrison government has recently lost his defamation case on appeal against refugee advocate, Shane Bazzi. In February 2021, Bazzi tweeted a link to an article which quoted Dutton. The tweet allegedly claimed that refugee women were using false rape allegations as a means of entering Australia. This tweet also had a comment which labelled Dutton as ‘a rape apologist’. On first instance, the Federal Court held that th...

Mariah Carey, her co-writer Walter Afanasieff and the Sony Music Group are being sued by musician, Andy Stone for their well-known Christmas tune All I Want for Christmas Is You. In a civil lawsuit filed in Louisiana, Stone alleges he co-wrote and recorded a song with the same name in 1989 and never permitted, consented or granted Mariah Carey a license to use the title. Stone claims Mariah Carey, her co-writer and Sony have ‘knowingly, wilfully and intentionally engaged in a campaign to infringe’ his copyright and have unjustly e...

Sanicki Lawyers has acted in the successful defence of defamation proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria, in the matter of Srecko and David Lorbek v Peter King [2022] VSC 218. On 5 May 2022, Justice Michael McDonald ruled that the defamation claim brought by luxury car dealers Srecko Lorbek and David Lorbek against Peter King failed on the basis of statutory qualified privilege, marking the end of a four-year long legal battle. The proceeding concerned three Google reviews and a post on Law Answers by Mr King, which related to t...

The generosity of many music-lovers has recently saved Melbourne-based record store, Basement Discs. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Basement Discs co-owners Suzanne Bennett and Rod Jacobs struggled to pay rent. The Block Arcade store co-owners said that the store had faced a decrease in sales by approximately 80% because of the pandemic. To add to the difficulties, Jacobs also has been fighting cancer for many years now. The co-owners noted the store’s landlord was ’very supportive’ throughout the lockdowns, offering fina...

On April 6, pop-sensation Ed Sheeran and his co-writers, John McDaid and Steven McCutcheon won their legal battle against Sami Chokri, who performs under the name of Sami Switch. The victory comes after arduous litigation where Sami Chokri accused Sheeran of copying the chorus in Chokri’s song “Oh Why”. The copyright claims waged against Sheeran, McDavid and McCutcheon were in relation to the “Oh I” hook in Sheeran’s 2017 hit, ‘Shape of You’. Chokri claimed the hook was ‘strikingly similar’ to the “Oh Why” refr...