Company Law Bill On 1 November 2005, the Company Law Reform Bill was finally introduced to the House of Lords and when it comes into force in 2007, it will affect companies of every size 25.11.05 Law Now, Company Law Links
Insurance VAT Exemption In early July, HM Revenue and Customs will be issuing their
consultation document on proposed changes to the UK VAT
legislation. These will restrict substantially the scope of the
current VAT exemption for insurance business in line with the
European Court of Justice decision in the Arther Andersen case 04.07.05 Law Now, Arthur Andersen Links, Financial Services Links, Insurance Links
TM for 3D Mouse Blocked The Trade Marks Registry has allowed an opposition by Direct Line Insurance Plc to an application by esure Insurance Limited to register a three-dimensional mark consisting of a computer mouse on wheels 02.03.07 Law Now, Insurance, Intellectual Property, Trademark
Appeals Against Trade Marks In Special Effects v L'Oreal the Court of Appeal has reversed a controversial decision that a party who had raised certain arguments in opposition to the grant of a trade mark in the Trade Mark Registry would be prevented from raising the same arguments in later disputes 14.01.07 Law Now, Intellectual Property, Trademark
Selling Assets Secured by Charge Court has allowed local authority to sell PFI asset despite bank claim that it has a charge on the asset for a loan, still to determine whether charge will continue once asset sold 03.10.06 Law Now, Banking Law, PFI - PPP
Freezing Orders in Winding Up In HM Customs petition for winding-up of C&E Enterprises for VAT liability, held that the court has jurisdiction to grant freezing orders against third parties pending a winding-up petition, orders should be obtained by provisional liquidators and not petitioning creditors 02.10.06 Law Now, Insolvency, UK Tax, VAT
FENIN update The latest development in an ECJ case which considers whether an undertaking involved in purchasing and provision of health care as part of a national health service is subject to EU competition law 15.11.05 Law Now, EU Competition Links
P2P Copyright Liability The music and film industry in the US have secured a much sought after victory in their fight against internet piracy over Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks. In issuing its ruling, the US Supreme Court held
unanimously that the P2P software companies, Grokster and
Morpheus, are liable for the activities of end-users, 28.06.05 Law Now, Copyright Links, Intellectual Property Links, Internet Piracy Links
Enforcing Adjudicator Decisions There are exceptional cases where adjudicators' decisions are not readily enforced by the courts, these include where the wrong body appointed the adjudicator, or the adjudicator decided a dispute under the wrong construction contract, decision in Lead Technical Services v CMS Medical 07.05.07 Law Now, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Construction Law
Relief From Unfair Prejudice Where an investor in a joint venture company has invested not only by subscribing for shares but also by advancing loan capital, the investor may be granted relief from unfairly prejudicial conduct even though such relief will benefit the investor only as a loan creditor and not as a member 07.05.07 Law Now, Company Law, Insolvency
OFT to Study Current Accounts The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched a market study into personal current accounts, forms part of the in-depth study into retail bank pricing announced by the OFT in March 2006, will consider wider questions about competition and price transparency in the provision of personal current accounts 30.04.07 Law Now, Bank Penalty Charges, Banking Law, Competition Law
CC to Probe Rail Leasing The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has referred the leasing of rolling stock for franchised passenger rail services to the Competition Commission (CC) for further investigation, claims certain features of the rolling stock leasing market are limiting competition 30.04.07 Law Now, Competition Law, Transport Law
JCT and Construction Act In Melville Dundas v Wimpey, first Construction Act case to reach the House of Lords, considers whether the JCT provisions which suspend a contractor's entitlement to payment in the event of insolvency fall foul of the Act 26.04.07 Law Now, Construction Law, Insolvency
Redress for Competition Breaches Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published a discussion paper on private actions in competition law and how consumers and business can get effective redress for breaches, aim to inform OFT response to forthcoming EU white paper, main focus of the paper is the extension of representative actions (not class actions) 23.04.07 Law Now, Competition Law, Consumer Rights, EU Competition, EU Law, Litigation
Patent Litigation Insurance Following the publication of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property the issue of a workable patent litigation insurance scheme has returned to the legal and political agenda, desire to encourage more successful patent applications ensures it will not shift until the situation is addressed 23.04.07 Law Now, Gowers Review, Insurance, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Patent Law
Company Liquidation The courts recently ruled that a statutory notice to convert from administration to liquidation was still effective even though the term of office of the administrator had ceased when the notice was registered 26.03.06 Law Now, Insolvency
Subordination Clauses In a unanimous judgment handed down in January, the Court of Appeal upheld the first instance decision on all points of the Liquidators of SSSL Realisations (2002) Ltd v AIG and the Liquidators of Save Group Plc v AIG 06.03.06 Law Now, Company Law, Competition Law, Hollinger
Christmas Cowboys During the festive season, landlords traditionally find a vacant unit is suddenly occupied overnight by cowboy traders, cashing in on
the Christmas rush, but there are measures that can be taken to regain possession of the unit 13.01.06 Law Now, Property Law
PFI Subcontracts A recent case casts doubt on the effectiveness of equivalent project relief clauses in PFI subcontracts and has implications for project companies and their funders and investors in the PFI industry 13.01.06 Law Now
Merger Fees The DTI has announced major increases to UK merger control fees, representing a tripling of existing fees and in 2009 these fees will themselves be doubledLaw Now The amendment also provides for foreign acquirers to be charged a merger fee for the first time 11.01.06 Government News Network, Company Law
EU Competition Law The European Commission has just issued consultation papers containing proposals to encourage claimants to enforce their rights and bring claims for damages for breach of EU competition law 30.12.05 Law Now, Competition Law, EU Competition
OFT Annual Plan The OFTâs draft Annual Plan for 2006/7 is now open for consultation and it responds to recent criticisms from the NAO and from the Competition Appeal Tribunal about the way in which it conducts its investigations 20.12.05 Law Now, Competition Law
Employment Case Awards The Government has put an order before Parliament to increase rates in cases and rights within the Employment Tribunals jurisdiction 11.01.06 Law Now, Employment Law
Working Time EU Member States failed to agree proposals for a revised Working Time Directive and remained deadlocked over the opt out provision which allows the 48-hour working week to be exceeded 21.12.05 Law Now, EU Working Time, Employment Law
New TUPE Delay The DTI has delayed the implementation of new TUPE regulations until 6th April 2006, as a result of the large volume of responses to the consultation exercise and the many issues that have been raised by respondents, 25.06.05 Law Now, Employment Law Links, TUPE Links
People
.eu registration 7 December marks the start of a phased 'sunrise' period for registration of the new .eu domain, to then be followed by registration on a first-come-first-served basis 02.12.05 Law Now, E-Commerce
Software Patents The Patents Court has reconfirmed in Halliburton Energy Services Inc v Smith International that, in the UK, software which shows a technological effect, and has the capability of being applied in industry, will be treated as patentable subject matter 13.09.05 Law Now, Intellectual Property Links, Patent Links
OFR for Telecoms The first Reporting Standard is aimed at all companies that are required to prepare an Operating and Financial Review, but the implementation guidance included with the Reporting Standard does set out examples of non-financial Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which may be relevant to the telecoms sector 10.06.05 Law Now, Capital Markets Links, Company Law Links, Corporate Governance Links, Telcoms Links
Enforcing Adjudicator Decisions There are exceptional cases where adjudicators' decisions are not readily enforced by the courts, these include where the wrong body appointed the adjudicator, or the adjudicator decided a dispute under the wrong construction contract, decision in Lead Technical Services v CMS Medical 07.05.07 Law Now, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Construction Law
Relief From Unfair Prejudice Where an investor in a joint venture company has invested not only by subscribing for shares but also by advancing loan capital, the investor may be granted relief from unfairly prejudicial conduct even though such relief will benefit the investor only as a loan creditor and not as a member 07.05.07 Law Now, Company Law, Insolvency
OFT to Study Current Accounts The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched a market study into personal current accounts, forms part of the in-depth study into retail bank pricing announced by the OFT in March 2006, will consider wider questions about competition and price transparency in the provision of personal current accounts 30.04.07 Law Now, Bank Penalty Charges, Banking Law, Competition Law
CC to Probe Rail Leasing The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has referred the leasing of rolling stock for franchised passenger rail services to the Competition Commission (CC) for further investigation, claims certain features of the rolling stock leasing market are limiting competition 30.04.07 Law Now, Competition Law, Transport Law
JCT and Construction Act In Melville Dundas v Wimpey, first Construction Act case to reach the House of Lords, considers whether the JCT provisions which suspend a contractor's entitlement to payment in the event of insolvency fall foul of the Act 26.04.07 Law Now, Construction Law, Insolvency
Redress for Competition Breaches Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published a discussion paper on private actions in competition law and how consumers and business can get effective redress for breaches, aim to inform OFT response to forthcoming EU white paper, main focus of the paper is the extension of representative actions (not class actions) 23.04.07 Law Now, Competition Law, Consumer Rights, EU Competition, EU Law, Litigation
Patent Litigation Insurance Following the publication of the Gowers Review of Intellectual Property the issue of a workable patent litigation insurance scheme has returned to the legal and political agenda, desire to encourage more successful patent applications ensures it will not shift until the situation is addressed 23.04.07 Law Now, Gowers Review, Insurance, Intellectual Property, Litigation, Patent Law
