StoresOnline gets green light from Federal Court

On 19 October the Federal Court, Sydney, permitted the workshops to continue only subject to a number of court orders designed to protect consumers to be made by Justice Tamberlin.

An ACCC media representative told CRN that the matter was originally put in front of Justice Tamberlin in the Federal Court on the 09 October.

In the earlier case, the ACCC alleged that StoresOnline had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in the promotion and sale of its home business e-commerce software packages.

In the present proceedings, the ACCC alleges that StoresOnline contravened the 87B undertaking in various ways and on numerous occasions during the course of those further presentations.

One of the orders sought by the ACCC in the present proceedings is an interlocutory injunction restraining StoresOnline from conducting further presentations to sell and promote their home business e-commerce software packages until the proceeding has been determined on a final basis.

In declining the ACCC's application for an interlocutory injunction Justice Tamberlin said, "While the breaches of the undertaking by StoresOnline do not warrant a blanket order restraining StoresOnline from making any presentations in Australia, I am persuaded that the most appropriate course is to make orders requiring StoresOnline to give effect to the undertaking to which it made a commitment on 24 April 2006, until further order."

However Justice Tamberlin found that StoresOnline had breached the s.87B undertaking on a number of occasions in conduct at earlier workshops. In particular he found that StoresOnline had breached its obligation to make the three business day cooling off period known to consumers. He found that some of the StoresOnline written disclaimers were "manifestly inadequate".

Justice Tamberlin indicated that he would make a number of the orders sought by the ACCC on Friday (27 October 2007), to "discourage (StoresOnline), with the powerful sanction of contempt, from giving those presentations in a way that breaches its undertaking given to the ACCC."

This matter will now proceed to a final hearing at which time the ACCC will press for; declarations that StoresOnline has contravened s.87B of the Act; a range of injunctions to ensure that the s.87B undertaking is complied with in the future; an order that StoresOnline pay to the Commonwealth an amount up to the amount of any financial benefit which it has obtained, directly or indirectly, which is attributable to the alleged breaches of the s.87B undertaking and an order directing StoresOnline to compensate any other person who has suffered loss or damage as a result of the breach of the s.87B undertaking.

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