Yajun Li v Zhou Hei Ya Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited

This matter concerned an application by Yajun Li (the applicant) against Zhou Hei Ya Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited (the respondent) in the Federal Court of Australia. The dispute arose from allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct in contravention of the *Australian Consumer Law* (ACL). The applicant sought to restrain the respondent from continuing certain advertising and promotional activities.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the respondent's representations, particularly those concerning the origin and quality of its food products, were misleading or deceptive, or likely to mislead or deceive, in contravention of section 18 of the Schedule 2 to the *Competition and Consumer Act 2010* (Cth) (the ACL). The applicant contended that the respondent's marketing implied that its products were manufactured in Australia when, in fact, they were not.

Justice Brown considered the evidence presented by both parties, including marketing materials and expert testimony. Her Honour applied the established legal principles for assessing misleading or deceptive conduct, focusing on the likely effect of the representations on the target audience. The Court found that the respondent's advertising, when viewed as a whole and in its commercial context, was likely to mislead consumers into believing that the products were of Australian origin, thereby contravening section 18 of the ACL.

The Court made orders restraining the respondent from continuing the misleading advertising and awarded costs to the applicant.