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Commercial Litigation UK
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July 11, 2024
Volvo Wasn't Properly Served In Cartel Case, ECJ Says
The European Union's top court ruled Thursday that Volvo was not validly served when documents were sent to its Spanish subsidiary, in a major setback for a competition damages claim in the Iberian country.
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July 11, 2024
Consumer Groups Get EU Court's OK To Bring Data Claims
Representative organizations can bring privacy litigation for individuals if the organizations can prove a breach resulted from the processing of personal data, the European Union's top court ruled Thursday in tech giant Meta's dispute with a German consumer rights body.
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July 11, 2024
Former EuroChem CEO Escapes EU Sanctions
The European General Court has lifted sanctions on the former chief executive officer of Russian fertilizer manufacturer EuroChem, finding there is not enough evidence to show the businessman is still involved in sectors generating revenue for the Russian government.
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July 11, 2024
Medical Device Maker Defends Bladder Stone Removal IP
A Chinese medical device maker has hit back at a rival's bid to invalidate its patent for a suction device to remove bladder stones, saying that it is new and doesn't add extra subject matter.
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July 11, 2024
NCA Can Seize Money Linked To £55M Tax Scam
A 13-year money laundering investigation involving a lottery winner, a bomb hoax and a £55 million ($71 million) tax fraud neared its end at a London court on Thursday as a judge ordered funds from three defunct companies to be forfeited to the National Crime Agency.
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July 11, 2024
BHS Liquidators Sue Former Owner For Role In £133M Loss
Liquidators for BHS have sued its former owner in their latest effort to recover money after the high street chain's £133 million ($171 million) collapse, telling a London court that the law firm partner had wrongly pocketed millions of pounds of the company's cash.
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July 11, 2024
Barclays Sued By Trader For Suspending Investor's Account
Barclays is being sued for allegedly blocking a customer from trading on the bank's investor platform and failing to tell the market trader when selling could resume, losing him £6.7 million ($8.6 million) in profit.
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July 10, 2024
Arabic Tea Seller Wins EU TM Bid On Appeal
An Arabic-style food shop won its bid Wednesday to reinstate a trademark covering tea with the words "Al Assad" and "Thé Vert de Chine," after a European court ruled that buyers would differentiate it from a rival's mark.
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July 10, 2024
CMA Bids To Reverse Nixed £100M Fine In Drug-Pricing Case
The U.K.'s competition watchdog on Wednesday sought to overturn a ruling that upended more than £100 million ($128.4 million) in fines against drug companies for allegedly reaching agreements related to hydrocortisone tablets, in a major case for U.K. competition law.
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July 10, 2024
Beverly Hills Polo TM Owner Can't Overturn Polo Club Ruling
The owner of trademark rights for the Beverly Hills Polo Club fashion brand failed to convince an appellate court that the existence and activities of other polo-themed trademarks was irrelevant to its infringement claim.
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July 10, 2024
Music Distributor Says Contract Claim A Minor Complaint
Sheet music distributor Hal Leonard has told a U.K. classical music publisher that accusations it failed to improve sales and generate royalties are off-key, especially since Hal Leonard says it went beyond its obligations to promote and sell the music.
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July 10, 2024
HMRC, CPS Beat Financier's Claim Over Botched Prosecution
HM Revenue and Customs and the Crown Prosecution Service have beaten claims of malicious prosecution and misfeasance in public office by a corporate financier following a failed criminal fraud case, with a judge finding that they had enough evidence to pursue him.
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July 10, 2024
Nursery Gets 2nd Shot To Fight Font Size Discrimination Case
A nursery won a shot on Wednesday at overturning a ruling that it discriminated against a staffer with poor vision by using a standard font size in documents, with an appeals tribunal questioning an earlier decision that the use of the "small" font size was unjustified.
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July 10, 2024
Whistleblowing Trainee At Defunct Law Firm Wins £36K
An employment tribunal has ordered an insolvent law firm to pay more than £36,000 ($46,200) to a trainee it dismissed after she blew the whistle on its "chaotic" operations to the industry regulator.
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July 10, 2024
Uni Students Can't Bring Group Action Over COVID Disruption
A court blocked thousands of students on Wednesday from coming together as a single group to sue a top U.K. university for allegedly failing to provide campus-based tuition during the COVID-19 pandemic, because it would cause unnecessary delays and costs to proceedings.
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July 10, 2024
Citi Rebuked Over Botched Misconduct Probe Into Trader
A decision by Citigroup to fire a trader amid allegations that he had given misleading updates on deals was unfair because its probe was plagued by delays and led to an unreasonable finding of gross misconduct, a tribunal has ruled.
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July 10, 2024
Pfizer, BioNTech Fight To Invalidate CureVac COVID Patents
Pharma giants Pfizer and BioNTech urged a London court on Wednesday to invalidate COVID-19 vaccine patents owned by a German company, saying the rival vaccine patent should be nixed because it does not involve any novel inventive step.
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July 10, 2024
Finance Co. Can't Escape Liability In £1.7M Failed Investments
A finance company has failed to duck liability for botched property investments worth approximately £1.7 million ($2.2 million) as a London appeals court found the firm had accepted responsibility for another business to arrange the deals.
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July 10, 2024
BA Must Pay Canceled Flight Claim Over Sick Off-Duty Pilot
The U.K. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that British Airways cannot refuse to pay out compensation to passengers of a canceled flight, finding that it does not constitute an "extraordinary circumstance" if a pilot falls sick before take off.
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July 10, 2024
Shein Investors Could Have Recourse If ESG Abuses Exposed
Expectations that the Shein fast-fashion group will float on the London Stock Exchange have raised questions over what recourse investors have to recoup losses in the English courts if a future emergence of human rights abuses in a company's supply chain triggers a drop in its share price.
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July 09, 2024
Hedge Fund Says Nickel Pause Was 'Regulatory Overreaction'
A U.S. hedge fund on Tuesday sought to revive its claim against the London Metal Exchange over the market's decision to cancel over $12 billion in nickel trades, arguing that the exchange never had the power to do so.
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July 09, 2024
UK Vape Maker Takes Swing At Chinese Rival
Vapepen has fought back against claims that it sells units identical to SKE Crystal Bar, arguing that its Chinese rival is picking a fight with the wrong company.
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July 09, 2024
Supermarket Chain Iceland Fights To Nix Kebab Supplier's TM
Grocery giant Iceland has hit back at a trademark infringement claim from a kebab meat supplier, saying the meat company's logo is too vague and its trademark protection should be revoked.
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July 09, 2024
Sony Music Unit Says Infringement Of TikTok Hit An Error
A Sony Music unit has told a U.K. record label that its version of a remake of the 2008 hit "Ride It" unintentionally infringed the original track and that the label's damages claim is "excessive and unjustified."
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July 09, 2024
Lawyer Accused Of Making False Mishcon Claims On Iran TV
The solicitors' watchdog told a disciplinary tribunal on Tuesday that a high-profile criminal defense lawyer recklessly made false statements about Mishcon de Reya LLP while appearing on an antisemitic show on an Iranian state-owned media channel.
Expert Analysis
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Employer Due Diligence Lessons From Share Scheme Case
The Scottish Court of Session recently confirmed in Ponticelli v. Gallagher that the right to participate in a share incentive plan transfers to the transferee, highlighting the importance for transferee employers to conduct comprehensive due diligence when acquiring workforce, including on arrangements outside the employment contract's scope, say lawyers at McDermott.
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Construction Ruling Clarifies Key Payment Mechanism Issue
The English Technology and Construction Court's recent decision in Lidl v. Closed Circuit Cooling, clarifying when construction contracts' payment mechanisms must be fixed as a set period of time, should encourage both paying parties and payees to ensure that their contracts' payment deadlines are unambiguous, say Rebecca Williams and Jack Moulder at Watson Farley.
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Key Findings From Law Commission Review Of Arbitration Act
The U.K. law reform body's recent arbitration standards recommendations to the government include a clarification of governing law, leave many areas unchanged, and include a surprise on discrimination, say Poonam Melwani and Claire Stockford at Quadrant Chambers.
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Bitcoin Case Highlights Advanced Age Of UK's IP Law
An appellate court's recent decision in a case involving the copyright of bitcoin's file format emphasizes the role of copyright protection in software, and also the challenges of applying decades-old laws to new technologies, say Marianna Foerg and Ben Bell at Potter Clarkson.
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Accountability Is Key To Preventing Miscarriages Of Justice
The wrongful conviction of Andrew Malkinson and other recent cases show that in order to avoid future miscarriages of justice, there needs to be a fundamental reevaluation of how investigators, prosecutors and the Criminal Cases Review Commission operate, prioritizing stronger penalties and increased funding, say Thomas Walford at Expert Evidence International and policy analyst Gerald Frost.
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UN Code Likely To Promote Good Arbitration Practices
The arbitrator code of conduct recently adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law should help reinforce standards of good practice and improve public perception of investor-state dispute settlement, though its effectiveness may be limited by the code's voluntary nature, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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6 Key Factors For Successful Cross-Border Dispute Mediation
The European landscape of cross-border disputes diverges markedly from the U.S. experience and presents unique challenges, including the amalgamation of diverse cultures and legal systems, but there are several practical steps that practitioners can take to effectively navigate the process, says Peter Kamminga at JAMS.
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EU Ruling Highlights Strategic Benefits Of Patent Appeals
The European Patent Office board of appeal recently reversed the examining board's ruling in an application by LG Electronics, highlighting how applicants struggling to escape conflicting objection traps at the examination level can improve their chances of a positive outcome with an appeal, says Andrew Rudhall at Haseltine Lake.
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UK Tech Cases Warn Of Liability Clause Drafting Pitfalls
The recent U.K. High Court cases Drax Energy Solutions v. Wipro and EE v. Virgin Mobile Telecoms indicate a more literal judicial approach to construing limitations of liability, even when this significantly limits a claimant's recoverable damages, highlighting the importance of carefully drafted liability provisions, say Helen Armstrong and Tania Williams at RPC.
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Series
In A 'Barbie' World: Boosting IP Value With Publicity Machines
Mattel's history of intellectual property monitoring, including its recent challenge against Burberry over the "BRBY" trademark ahead of the "Barbie" film, shows how IP enforcement strategies can be used as publicity to increase brand value and inform potential collaborations, says Carly Duckett at Shepherd and Wedderburn.
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EU Directive Implementation Facilitates Class Action Shift
Lawyers at Faegre Drinker discuss the increase in class and consumer action filings leading up to the implementation of the EU's Collective Redress Directive, and predict that certain aspects of the directive will result in a pro-claimant landscape that may mirror that of the U.S. and other common law countries.
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Swiss Privacy Law Reforms Present Divergences From GDPR
The differences between Switzerland’s recently reformed Federal Act on Data Protection and the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, particularly around data breach reporting and the liability of company officers, will need to be carefully managed by multinationals that may have competing obligations under different laws, say Kim Roberts and Vanessa Alarcon Duvanel at King & Spalding.
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EU Antitrust Rules Set To Pose Challenges To US Businesses
With stark differences between U.S. and European Union antitrust regimes, and potential for the forthcoming EU guidelines to turbocharge the commission's appetite for intervention, it is important that U.S. businesses with activities in the region take note of the reforms, say Andrea Pomana and Sarah Wilks at Mayer Brown.
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Navigating The Rising Threat Of Greenwashing Enforcement
Recent high-profile cases before the Danish Consumer Ombudsman are a signal that authorities are ready to take robust action against greenwashing, and with a likely increase in the stringency of laws and severity of penalties, it is vital that businesses promoting their sustainable credentials do so in a compliant manner, says Lars Karnøe at Potter Clarkson.
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New Legislation May Not Be Needed For Recovery Of Crypto
The recent seizure of cryptocurrency under a civil recovery order raises the issue of whether extended powers under the forthcoming Economic Crime Bill are necessary, with the ability to seize crypto-related items that may be the subject of a search order more likely to be of assistance, says Nicola McKinney at Quillon Law.