Intellectual property law has never been a laughing matter. Until now. Having a sense of humour on the internet is fraught with many dangers, but, beyond the minefields of taste and offence, the wrong joke, using the wrong pop culture reference, could also get a comedian sued. Using material from a song or a film in […]

Litigation should always be a last resort. Parties are expected to negotiate to try to settle their differences before and during court proceedings. Those who ignore this are often penalised by the courts. This was recently demonstrated in the High Court case of Gresport Finance Limited v Battaglia. In that case, the Court refused to […]

As of 1 October the procedure for giving a tenant notice under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy has been radically changed. This is a result the Deregulation Act 2015, which has previously altered the Tenancy Deposit position once before. The somewhat vague name of the Act, which deals with a wide variety of subjects, is likely to […]

The Commercial Court’s recent decision in the case of Brit UW Limited and F&B Trenchless Solutions Limited serves as useful reminder that parties must disclose all material facts to their insurers when entering into a policy of insurance or face potentially disastrous consequences. F&B was a specialist tunnelling contractor and was subcontracted to construct a […]

In the recent case of The Northampton Regional Livestock Centre Company Limited v Cowling & Another, the Court of Appeal found that a partner who had been unaware of the wrongful conduct of one of his partners was still jointly and severally liable for that partner’s liability to a third party. In this case, Mr […]

The legal system prefers to hold the admirable point of view that evidence is genuine and everything said on oath is true. In the majority of cases this is more or less true, give or take a little mis-remembering in the witness stand. Every so often, however, a case comes along which requires a very […]

It’s a familiar image: the family all set for a holiday, up at the crack of dawn and speeding on down to the airport, passports in hand, only to come to a screeching halt because the plane – for which you arrived an hour or two early – is delayed for an hour, or four […]

A UK company has been forced to give up seven domain names using the words “Star Wars”, following action by Lucasfilm which is owned by media giant, Disney. Abscissa.com Limited, a fancy dress retailer from Berkshire, registered two of the addresses –starwars.co.uk and star-wars.co.uk – in 2003 after Lucasfilm, the production company behind the Star […]

The saga of the mis-selling by the banks of Interest Rate Hedging Products (IRHP), commonly known as Interest Rate Swaps, rumbles on. It was reported in the Sunday Times over the weekend that The Coin Group Limited, an operator of care homes in Buckinghamshire, had settled its High Court claim against Lloyds Bank Plc over […]

From 1 October 2015, the new Consumer Rights Act 2015 replaces a number of existing laws relating to the supply of goods, services and digital content for contracts made from that date. Here are three key changes: (1) A more straightforward remedy to a consumer who has been given misleading information in the sale of […]

From 1 October 2015, the new Consumer Rights Act 2015 replaces a number of existing laws; consolidating eight pieces of separate legislation into a single piece of new legislation. The Act will change the rules relating to the supply of goods, services and digital content for contracts made from that date. In brief the new […]

In the case of Sierra Fishing & Ors v Ali Zbeeb & Ors the High Court has taken the unusual step of removing an arbitrator under section 24 Arbitration Act 1996. Commercial arbitration is a means of resolving business disputes between two or more parties outside a formal court system. After reviewing all of the […]