As the squeeze tightens on the State’s purse strings, we thought that the day of the UK Chancellor’s Spending Review was a good day to smile sweetly and say that in a world where charities almost certainly have insufficient resources to pick up the burden of much that was once provided by the State, the Government has at least proposed …
Why not just give in when a customer or supplier wants a contract to be governed by the laws of the country they are based in? Well it might work and it might not, and whilst this is not an exhaustive list, here are a few things to think about….. 1. The Biggest Show in Town Problem If you are …
Be aware that the UK Department of Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) will be consulting early in 2016 concerning its proposal that the government should introduce a broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO), with the aim of giving customers the legal right to demand a broadband connection speed of 10Mbps, regardless of location. In its 7th November 2015 press release, DCMS …
If your business has an intellectual property registration in the UK, you may have received letters from one or more “agencies” with a name, which looks surprisingly similar to the “UK Intellectual Property Office” telling you that your registration is about to expire and that you need to pay money to avoid your registration being cancelled. The letters are not …
On 20th October, we reported the decision of the European Court of Justice decision that the existence of the “safe harbour” agreements operated by the US Federal Trade Commission were no longer grounds for validating the transfer of Mr Schrem’s data from Facebook Ireland to Facebook in the US. That decision was published on 7th October. Be aware that on …
The Court of Appeal case of Dixon and another v Blindley Heath Investments Limited (2015) EWCA Civ 1023 is an interesting decision about what happens when a business (or its lawyers) prepare a set of legal documents, which are intended to govern the rights of the stakeholders in the business, but then the business ignores or forgets about those documents …
The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court case of Helme, Helme and Hidden Gem Jewellery (the “Claimants”) v Maher and Green (the “Defendants”) (2015) EWHC 3151 (IPEC) 2nd November 2015 (Bailii) is a cautionary tale about not documenting clearly the rights you do and do not want to grant to a prospective business partner. In this case, Mrs Helme and her daughter …
I always tell my clients that there is a defence of “fair comment” to claims of defamation of character. In other words, if you say something nasty but true about somebody, then it may have been mean-spirited of you to have said it, but at least the other party cannot sue you for defamation. The High Court case of Umeyor …
I had a read yesterday through the European Commission work programme for 2016, optimistically subtitled “No time for business as usual”. It seems that creating a connected Digital Single Market in the European Union will generate up to €250 billion of additional growth for the European Single Market (hooray), but sadly even the proposals for achieving this will not materialize …
My reaction when company due diligence of a takeover target uncovers the application of R&D tax credits by the target, is typically one of wondering what is going to happen next and how big an issue it is going to be. All too often I see the news met by the knowing and weary shaking of accountancy and tax heads, …