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Economou v de Freitas defamation case: appeal dismissed
28 November 2018
In what the leading judge called a case with “unusual and tragic facts”, the Court of Appeal has dismissed Alexander Economou’s appeal against the first instance decision that his defamation claims should fail.
“(Section 55) Shades of Gray” - using the Data Protection Act to prevent employees misusing or taking data
27 February 2017
A recent case has highlighted a potentially helpful mechanism in the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”) for employers to use if they are concerned about employees taking data when they leave.
Sports Q&A - Are clubs allowed to ban their players from using social media?
27 September 2018
This month’s question was inspired by comments from Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola, about his first choice left back, Benjamin Mendy. During a press conference over the summer, Guardiola suggested that Mendy should, “forget a little bit the social media and improve a few things”. Mendy, who has a huge following on both Instagram and Twitter, vowed to “listen to the manager”...though he remains incredibly active online.
Playing with fire: user-generated content on Twitter (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)
23 June 2017
The 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.
Use of disclosed documents to threaten new proceedings was a breach of court rules and may amount to a contempt of court by the solicitor and client
12 December 2017
The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) provide that using documents disclosed in existing proceedings (except for the specific purposes allowed) breach the rules. CPR 31.22 provides various exceptions to when a document disclosed in a set of proceedings may be used. Any use outside of the rules could also amount to a contempt of court. Both the client who relied on the solicitor’s advice and the solicitor may be equally vulnerable to the contempt proceedings where there is no evidence of deliberate or reckless misconduct by the solicitor.
Investigative powers of the U.S. Grand Jury in prosecuting intellectual property crimes
05 August 2024
Earlier this year, a federal grand jury indicted a former Google engineer, Linwei Ding, a Chinese national, for allegedly stealing AI trade secrets to benefit two China-based companies he was secretly working for. According to the indictment, Ding allegedly stole over 500 files containing confidential information about Google’s AI hardware infrastructure and software. He has been charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets, and faces up to ten years in prison and a US$250,000 fine on each count if convicted.
Hong Kong court confirms that the implied duty of mutual trust and confidence cannot be relied upon to recover damages for loss arising from the manner of dismissal
16 December 2021
In the case of Lam Siu Wai v Equal Opportunities Commission [2021] HKCFI 3092, the Court of First Instance held that the employer’s right to terminate in accordance with the terms of employment was not subject to the implied duty of mutual trust and confidence and so an employee could not rely on it to recover damages for loss arising from the manner of his or her dismissal.
Hong Kong’s Employment Support Scheme: further updates and expansions
12 May 2020
On 12 May 2020, the Chief Executive announced further details on the newly implemented Employment Support Scheme as well as further expansions.
Hong Kong MPF updates: Abolition of the offsetting mechanism to take effect on 1 May 2025 and potential increase in mandatory contribution levels
03 May 2023
Over the past weeks, there have been some important news on the pension regime in Hong Kong that employers and employees should be mindful of.
Our latest Brexit update on immigration
16 November 2017
The UK Government published a Brexit update with the notion that it would relieve worried EEA nationals in the UK and let everyone see how lovely the UK Government intend to be over the end of free movement. This somewhat backfired when the European Parliament then said the proposal was “inadequate”.
Construction Law Update – Fighting back against “Smash and Grab” Adjudications
21 May 2018
The case of Grove Developments Ltd v S&T (UK) Ltd (February 2018) is worthy of note, not least because it potentially provides employers with a quick means of reclaiming the loss suffered, following a “smash and grab” adjudication by starting its own adjudication on the true value.
Corporate Update – June 2018
04 July 2018
Welcome to our June 2018 Corporate Update which brings you news and our views on law and practice for corporates and their owners and managers.
UK proceeding with UPC (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 4)
07 February 2017
The UK government announced that it will proceed with the Unitary Patent and the Unitary Patent Court (“UPC”). This ends months of speculation in the patent community as to what would happen afterthe Brexit vote last June. The UK was a mandatory signatory to the UPC Agreement and there had been concern that the project would stall in light of the UK’s European exit. Only Germany is left to ratify the Agreement and it is expected that the UPC will open in December this year.
To UPC or not UPC – implementation of Unified Patent Court delayed (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 5)
23 June 2017
The Unified Patent Court (UPC) is intended to provide a regional forum resolve patent disputes. At the moment, parties have to litigate patent disputes on a country by country basis across Europe, which is time-consuming, expensive and can lead to differing decisions in some countries. UPC decisions will have effect in all 25 states participating in the UPC, providing a single forum to resolve these disputes.
Play those bars again and end up behind… bars (Brands & IP Newsnotes - Issue 2)
28 March 2016
The High Court has handed down a custodial sentence of 28 days for breach of an injunction against copyright infringement, albeit suspended for a period of 18 months. Two points rang out.
Coty: Keeping up appearances (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 6)
12 October 2017
Can a prestigious brand prevent its resellers from selling online? The question was answered firmly in the negative by the European Court of Justice in 2011. In that case, the court said that the French pharmaceutical and cosmetic brand Pierre Fabre could not impose an outright ban on their resellers from selling online.
Setting up in Ireland?
28 March 2018
Here’s what you need to know about the six key differences between employment law in Ireland and the US
Time’s up for Smartwatch appeal (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 7)
23 April 2018
The CJEU has dismissed an appeal against a decision not to invalidate a smartwatch design held by Nike, ruling that “pioneering” designs do not attract greater protection.
Unsafe property causes death, but still no claim allowed
02 November 2017
A man visits a friend at his flat, falls down the stairs of the building (which are unsafe) and is killed. You would expect his widow would be able to sue the owner of the building in respect of her loss wouldn’t you?
Unregistered designs: Open and shut case (Brands & IP Newsnotes - issue 4)
08 February 2017
In a recent case, Action Storage (a producer of lockers, such as the ones installed in schools) sued G-Force (another producer of lockers) for infringing its design rights in producing a similar product.