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Playing with fire: user-generated content on Twitter (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)
23 June 2017The strange world of Twitter, where brands engage with their customers at their peril. The main lesson learned from the recent #WalkersWave Twitter promotion is one that brands have heard before: the British public love nothing more than a piss-take.
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Clash of the Titans: Google v Uber (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)
23 June 2017In February, Waymo, part of Google’s parent company, sued Uber for theft of confidential information. Allegedly, a former employee of Waymo, who had been a key part of Google’s driverless car initiative, took 14,000 files and then shortly jumped ship to start up his own autonomous vehicle company. A short time later, Uber acquired the start-up for $680 million.
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What are the options for the UK and EU to reach a compromise over free movement and access to the single market?
23 June 2017Theresa May’s ill-fated snap election seems to have transformed the UK’s national zeitgeist, not least in the public narrative over Brexit.
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Servicing trade mark infringement
22 June 2017The use of a third party trade mark to provide information or describe a service being offered does not necessarily constitute trade mark infringement. Where the use of a trademark goes beyond that and creates an impression in the average consumer that the particular serviced is authorised by the trade mark owner, this will constitute an infringement.
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Validly serving a Statutory Demand is a prerequisite for presenting a Bankruptcy Petition
22 June 2017The court has stressed the importance of validly serving a Statutory Demand before presenting a Bankruptcy Petition. The creditor must do all that is reasonably required to bring the service of the Statutory Demand to the attention of the debtor. Without effectively serving a Statutory Demand on the debtor, presenting a valid Bankruptcy Petition is impossible.
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Service of a claim form on an agent - was it valid?
22 June 2017In a recent case the High Court considered as a preliminary issue whether a claimant had validly served a claim form on what they considered was the agent of the claimant. The rules of service require that the defendant must be served at the place within the jurisdiction where it conducts business, or where it carries on its activities and which has a real connection with the claim. Therefore the question here was whether the agent’s office was a place at which the defendant conducted its business, or where it carried on its activities?
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What did the Queen’s Speech have to say about employment law?
22 June 2017Employment issues were quite prominent in the Conservative election manifesto, with Theresa May making the bold assertion that she was promising “the greatest expansion in workers’ rights by any Conservative government in history”. In the event, the political reality of minority government and the exigencies of legislating for Brexit have inevitably resulted in a rather more modest reform agenda.
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Vietnam - New mandatory work permit system from 1 July onwards
22 June 2017The Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs has been transitioning to a new online work permits application system since April which was piloted in Dong Nai and Vung Tau City.
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Putting a squeeze on patent licences
20 June 2017The recent case of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co Ltd v UCB Pharma SA & Celltech R&D Ltd [2017] EWHC 216 (Pat)
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Home Office has released statistics on illegal working penalties for the UK
19 June 2017The Home Office has released statistics on illegal working penalties totals for the UK from 1 October and 31 December 2016. 703 penalties were issued with total value of £11,595,000 (this value may be reduced through objections and appeals).
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Beware of handing matters over to the court’s discretion
16 June 2017How often in negotiations do parties “duck” issues deemed “too difficult” and try to cope with them by adopting “reasonable” (or other) “endeavours” obligations?
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Paying different dividends to different share classes: as easy as A, B, C?
16 June 2017Giving a company the ability to pay different rates of dividend to different shareholders can be a useful tool.
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What is an independent witness?
16 June 2017If we send you a document to sign and say that you need to have someone, who is independent, “witness” your signature, there’ll be space under the section for your signature for the witness to sign and insert their contact details.
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Competition watchdog turns the spotlight on to eCommerce
15 June 2017We have written an article for Essential Retail which takes a look at the European Commission’s report on competition in eCommerce.
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Tribunal finds father entitled to full pay for shared parental leave
14 June 2017An Employment Tribunal has decided that it was direct sex discrimination not to pay full salary to a father taking shared parental leave, in circumstances where a mother taking maternity leave during the same period would have received full pay.
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Employer must provide ‘adequate facility’ to take annual leave, says Advocate General
14 June 2017An Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has given his opinion that employers must provide an “adequate facility” for workers to exercise the right to paid annual leave under the EU Working Time Directive (“WTD”). On termination of employment, the employer must pay in lieu of untaken leave for the period during which the worker did not have such a facility to take it.
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Second round of changes to Australia's Subclass 457 visa
13 June 2017Following on from our last e-flash on Australia’s recent immigration reform to scrap and replace the existing Subclass 457 visa which took immediate effect in April, the second round of immigration changes will be taking effect on 1 July 2017.
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Warranty and Indemnity Insurance – the what, why and how of it?
13 June 2017Whilst the use of W&I Insurance in M&A transactions has been available for some time, its use has increased dramatically in the past few years, particularly in the technology, real estate and manufacturing sectors.
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Budget discussion report deemed an abuse of the cost budgeting process
09 June 2017A Defendant’s budget discussion report (Precedent R) was disregarded by the court due to the “lack of reality” of the offered costs.
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What might the election result mean for employment law?
09 June 2017A handful of results remain outstanding at the time of writing, but it seems that the general election is going to end in a hung Parliament with the Conservative Party not having won quite enough seats to have an outright majority.